Tag Archive for: civil society

Transparency

Portugal plummets in 2025 Corruption Perception Index, with the worst score ever.

The watchdog Transparency International Portugal (TIP) is challenging declarations by the Ministry of Justice on the assessment of anti-corruption policies in Portugal, and rejects claims that the Anti-Corruption Agenda– one of the government’s flagships – contains a clear anti-corruption strategy.

Instead, the Ministry’s technical report 2020-2024 ‘doesn’t provide any evidence of a structured, methodologically identifiable assessment of the results of an anti-corruption strategy in the past four years.’ TIP states.

Even worse, no proposal, timetable, or implementation process is known for the period 2025-2028. ‘The absence of this new strategy raises doubts about the commitments made and the consistency between political discourse and government action,’ the corruption watchdog declares.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice recently announced that it has finalized 17 of the 42 measures outlined in its National Anti-Corruption Agenda. Judge Rita Alarcão stated in the same press release that progress this far demonstrates that it is possible to act with effectiveness.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is an annual indicator compiled by Transparency International that assesses the perception of corruption in the public sector on a scale from 0 (corrupt) to 100 (clean) in more than 180 countries.

Government corruption is increasing worldwide due to a lack of leadership.
This year, the global average GPI score fell for the first time in over a decade, to just 46 out of 100. The NGO’s report reveals that ‘the vast majority of countries are failing to keep corruption under control’, highlighting that two-thirds of countries score below 50 on the index.

Portugal fell to 46th place, scoring just 56 points out of 100. Cape Verde ranked as the highest-placed nation with 62 points within the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, leaving Brazil (35), Angola(32), and Mozambique (21) far behind.

At the same time, countries scoring above 80 fell from 12 a decade ago to just 5 (i.e. Scandinavia, Singapore), highlighting ‘a worrying trend of democracies showing a deterioration in perceptions of corruption.’ 

Analyzing the results, TIP president José Fontão points to a correlation between rising perceptions of (state) corruption and the growth of populist rhetoric attacking institutions. He called the politicians to end isolated short-term measures, and above all to show more political will to tackle abuses of power and the factors driving this decline, such as the roll-back of democratic checks and balances, and attacks on independent civil society.


It should not be forgotten that the common people are paying the price, as corruption leads to under-funded public hospitals and schools, unbuilt defences against the climate crisis, and withers the hopes and dreams of young people.

Enjoy the week            Aproveite a semana               (pic Publico/Sapo)






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Kilimanjaro declaration

Africans Rising
For Justice, Peace, and Dignity

We, the citizens and descendants of Africa, as part of the Africans Rising Movement, are outraged by the
centuries of oppression; we condemn the plunder of our natural and mineral resources and the suppression of
our fundamental human rights.

We are determined to foster an Africa-wide solidarity and unity of purpose of the Peoples of Africa to build the Future we want – a right to peace, social inclusion and shared prosperity.

On 23-24 August 2016, two hundred and seventy two representatives from civil society, trade unions, women, young people, men, people living with disabilities, parliamentarians, media organisations and faith-based groups, from across Africa and the African diaspora gathered in Arusha, Tanzania and committed to build a pan-African movement that recognises these rights and freedoms of our People.

THE CONFERENCE DECLARED THAT:

  1. Africa is a rich continent. That wealth belongs to all our People, not to a narrow political and economic
    elite. We need to fight for economic development that is just and embraces social inclusion and
    environmental care. We have a right to the ‘better life’ our governments have promised.
  2. Africans have a diverse, rich and powerful heritage that is important to heal ourselves and repair the
    damage done by neoliberalism to our humanity and environment. Being African, embracing the
    philosophy of Ubuntu should be a source of our pride.
  3. African Youth is a critical foundation for building the success in our continent and must play a central
    role in building Africans Rising.
  4. Africa’s Diaspora whether displaced through slavery and colonialism or part of modern-day migration is part of Africa’s history and future. They are a reservoir of skills, resources, and passion that must be harnessed and integrated into our movement.
  5. We are committed to a decentralized, citizen-owned future that will build support and solidarity for local struggles, empower local leadership and immerse our activists in grassroots work of building social movements from below and beyond borders.
  6. We are committed to building a citizen’s movement that is accountable to the constituencies we represent and enforcing the highest standards of ethical behavior.

THEREFORE, WE RESOLVE THAT OUR WORK SHOULD BUILD A LOCAL, NATIONAL, CONTINENTAL AND GLOBAL CAMPAIGN THAT IS:
a. Expanding space for civic and political action
b. Fighting for women’s rights and freedoms across society
c. Focussing our struggles on the right to Equity and Dignity
d. Demanding good governance as we fight corruption and impunity
e. Demanding climate and environmental justice

CALL ON OUR PEOPLE AND ACTIVISTS TO:
Join this Africans Rising Movement and mobilize our people around this shared vision; organize and connect
local struggles under this umbrella; galvanize solidarity with all African struggles. This movement is committed to peace and non-violent action. We assert our inherent rights as Africans and invite our governments, leaders, other stakeholders and institutions to join us in pursuing the Future We Want to leave our future generations. We commit to mobilizing our people in Africa to launch this Movement on the 25th May 2017, when we deepen the meaning of African Liberation Day and call on all sectors of our society to mobilize and organize events in every African country that will build the momentum towards the genuine liberation of our beautiful continent.

We commit to mobilizing our people in Africa to launch this Movement on the 25th of May 2017, when we deepen the meaning of African Liberation Day and call on all sectors of our society to mobilize and organize events in every African country that will build the momentum towards the genuine liberation of our beautiful continent.

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