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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 9/04
Keynote Remarks by Peter Eigen, Chairman, Transparency International
May 1999
Abstract
Ladies and gentleman, it is a privilege to be asked to participate in this conference on corruption with its particular focus on Latin America.
President Carter signed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act into law a generation ago and it has made profound difference to the ways American corporations have operated ever since. Just a few weeks ago the internationalization of this landmark piece of legislation came into force. The OECD Anti-Corruption Convention was inspired by President Carter's early work and it was realized with the insistent pressure of civil society.
President Carter put the plight of the poor of the world at center stage in the international policies of his administration in Washington. Ever since, he has never held back in decrying corruption. We applaud President Carter and we thank him, and the Carter Center, for their support of Transparency International. We thank them for hosting this event and for their commitment to fight corruption—the abuse of public office for private gain.
Our common cause is about improving the lives of people. It is about contributing to a world where the poor are not imprisoned by exploitation and can enjoy the rights they are due. After all, we live in a world where are a woman in Uganda is forced to watch her daughter die as she has no money with which to bribe the hospital staff; where a child in Tanzania is beaten by his teacher for failing to bring him “tips”; and where hemophiliacs are dying of AIDS in Japan after tained and untreated blood had been released by corrupt oficials in their ministry of health. …
