Berlin, 14 Nov.: Huguette Labelle, a respected Canadian with a broad background in development issues, has been elected Chair of Transparency International (TI), the global coalition against corruption, according to the TIs website.
She replaces Peter Eigen, who founded the TI movement and has served with distinction throughout the organisations 12-year history. Eigen will assume the Chair of Transparency Internationals Advisory Council.
– I am deeply honoured to be elected by the Transparency International movement to lead this vitally important organisation, and to contribute to improving the lives of the victims of corruption around the world, Labelle said.
She brings a strong commitment to strengthening TIs already solid foundations, but warned of the challenges ahead: – Embedded corruption around the world continues to trap millions in poverty. Transparency International will continue to lead the fight to reduce the corrosive effects of corruption and enhance the opportunity for a better life, she noted.
Huguette Labelle has served in a variety of public offices, including president of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA – Canadas Danida) (1993-99), Vice-Chair of the World Health Organisations Working Group on Health and Development Policies, Deputy Minister of Transport (1990-93), and Chairman of the Public Service Commission of Canada.
She is currently Chancellor of the University of Ottawa and serves on the board of numerous Canadian and international organisations. She was born at 15. April 1939 in Rockland, a town in Canadas Ontario-province. She is a divorced mother of two.
Labelle was elected Sunday by the Annual Meeting of Transparency Internationals 94 chapters and contact groups around the world.
– I am leaving the Chair of Transparency International in extremely capable hands, said Peter Eigen.
He described his successor as “exceptionally well-equipped to lead the TI movement and to inspire its national chapters around the world. Her capacity to bring together diverse interests will help TI take on the criminals and vested interests that continue to ruin lives around the world.”
– Huguette Labelles background in development and government has given her a unique knowledge of the issues facing the anti-corruption movement today. As an effective and persuasive communicator, she will serve as a powerful voice on the international stage, said TIs Chief Executive, David Nussbaum.
Akere T. Muna was elected Vice Chair of Transparency International. He is founder and president of Transparency International Cameroon.
A lawyer by training, he is chairman of the Accreditation Committee of the Pan African Lawyers Union and former president of the Cameroon Bar Association. Muna is a member of several national commissions on legal reform and curbing corruption.
He was a member of the National Ad-hoc Commission for the Fight against Corruption and has served as a Commonwealth Observer for Zanzibars elections in 2000.
He was actively involved in the TI working group that helped to draft the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption and has written a guide to the convention published by TI.
He was elected to the TI Board at the 2004 Annual Meeting and to the position of Vice-Chair on 13 November 2005.
TI on TI
Transparency International, the only international non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption, brings civil society, business, and governments together in a powerful global coalition.
TI, through its International Secretariat and more than 85 independent national chapters around the world, works at both the national and international level to curb both the supply and demand of corruption.
In the international arena, TI raises awareness about the damaging effects of corruption, advocates policy reform, works towards the implementation of multilateral conventions and subsequently monitors compliance by governments, corporations and banks.
At the national level, chapters work to increase levels of accountability and transparency, monitoring the performance of key institutions and pressing for necessary reforms in a non-party political manner.
TI does not expose individual cases (that is the work of journalists, many of whom are members of TI chapters). Rather, in an effort to make long-term gains against corruption, TI focuses on prevention and reforming systems.
A principal tool in the fight against corruption is access to information. It is in this spirit that we offer this web site to everybody with an interest in the fight against corruption. We hope it will make a valuable contribution to assessing the gains made in recent years, and to contemplating the challenges that still lie ahead.
Kilde: www.transparency.org
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