States Parties [...] concerned about the seriousness of the problems posed by corruption and the threat it poses to the stability and safety of societies, undermining democratic institutions and values, ethical values and justice, and compromising sustainable development and the rule of law [... ] adopts this United Nations Convention against Corruption.
Preamble to the UN Convention against Corruption,
Ratified by Romania through Law no. 365/2004
Today, December 9, citizens from all over the world get their hands on making it possible in a collective effort to resist corruption that ruins their lives and countries.
Both ordinary people, experts and business representatives appreciate that corruption has become central to their lives over the last few years, giving them the chance to live a decent life, clean and profitable businesses, and sustainable development.
The Global Corruption Barometer shows that 65% of Romanians believe that the level of corruption has increased over the past two years and the Corruption Perceptions Index points out that the Romanian public sector is also a year of integrity test, earning only 43 points the part of the experts and representatives of the interviewed business environment, lower score than last year. Figures denote the sad reality of a system in which the perceived structures as the most corrupt are the political parties and the parliament (4.2 and 4 points out of 5 - very corrupt) and those called to restore justice - justice and the police are close to parity with them by 3.7 and 3.5 points. Corruption and corruption are proliferating because mechanisms and institutions that should investigate, judge, sanction, and recover corruption-induced damages are inoperable.
But corruption must stop! The same studies by Transparency International show that 3 Romanians out of 4 are ready to take an attitude of corruption and to support by their own efforts this fight either by addressing petitions to the government, either by taking part in peaceful protests or by joining organizations that fight corruption, either by paying a higher price for products or services, as long as they come from clean companies or by publicizing corruption through social networking.
In the spirit and in support of a national attitude, Transparency International Romania launches today the program "You can make the difference! Take an attitude to punish corruption! ", Structured in two phases:
1. Collecting from citizens and cataloging the corruption offenses that they have faced, or which they have noticed and which either remain unresolved in the drawers of justice, or have been resolved in favor of the corrupt ones.
2. Campaign "Adopt a Case!" - where citizens will be invited to voluntarily undertake the monitoring of the resolution of a corruption case, with the support of Transparency International Romania.
The program will be run by the TI-Romania Citizens Anticorruption Resource Center, which can be contacted at @ transparency.org.ro or 021/3177169. The information received will be used to substantiate advocacy efforts to modify norms or procedures that allow non-prosecution of corruption. The results of the monitoring and the progress of the cases will be made public on the website www.transparency.org.ro.
The national objective that Transparency International Romania proposes to citizens, the business environment, civil society, social partners and, last but not least, the political class is that by 2020 the Perceptions Index of Corruption in Romania exceeds 70 points.
Contact
Iulia COŞPĂNARU
iulia.cospanaru@transparency.org.ro