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	Rich countries failing to stamp out bribery abroad by Reuters & agencies   24 Jun 2008   Rich countries failing to stamp out bribery abroad. (Reuters)   A new report on corruption says fewer than half the countries that have signed a treaty aimed at stopping bribery abroad are taking steps to stamp it out.   Bribe money from companies in industrialised countries distorts public decision-making in some of the world''s poorest states, with disastrous consequences for their citizens.   But a report by corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) shows 18 of the 34 countries that have signed the anti-bribery treaty have taken little or no action to enforce it.   Countries getting poor marks include major exporters Britain and Japan, TI says. On the plus side, enforcement has increased in France, Germany, and the United States.   The report includes case studies of investigations into alleged bribery involving several big-name multinationals.   The treaty, which was adopted a decade ago by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, is seen as a key step in tackling the damaging effects of foreign bribery on democratic institutions, development programmes and business competition in poorer countries.   * Visit the link below for more details.   June 2008   Widespread graft is hurting Asia"s poorest the most, by Mark Forbes. (The Age)   The poor and vulnerable are the biggest victims of a hidden graft epidemic across the Asia-Pacific, according to a comprehensive United Nations study.   The report, Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives, calls for renewed efforts to combat corruption across the region.   It finds corruption remains common, "ranging from petty corruption to grand corruption to "state capture" — all of which erode trust in government and business and discriminate harshly against the poor".   The report, to be launched by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono today, expresses concern about the impact of "street level" corruption on the poor, saying it limits their access to justice, education and basic health care. Cleaning up the police, health, education and environment sectors in the Asia-Pacific is essential, it states.   There is a danger that pursuing corruption"s "big fish" could obscure the need to confront small-scale corruption that causes more day-to-day suffering, it finds.   "Hauling the rich and powerful before the courts may grab the headlines," the report says. "But the poor will benefit more from efforts to eliminate the corruption that plagues their everyday lives."   Although "grand corruption" involves large amounts, more insidious is the petty corruption requiring the poor to often pay small sums, such as "speed money to issue licences, or to allow full access to schools, hospitals or public utilities".   The report says a large proportion of health spending is dissipated by corruption, with more than 40% of patients forced to pay bribes for medical treatment in most Asian countries. In some Indian hospitals, 90% of patients have been forced to pay, and in maternity hospitals mothers have had to bribe nurses to see their babies.   A survey found nearly one in five people in the region had paid a bribe to a police officer in the past year.   "Across the region, corruption is clearly widespread in justice systems," the report says, "with serious implications for the poorest people, who are least able to pay bribes or engage effective lawyers."   Major institutional reform was an urgent priority. "Unless countries are determined to ensure their systems of justice are clean and fair, they are unlikely to be able to uproot corruption from other sectors."   Larger scale corruption also impacted on aid and services to the poor, the report says. "Extending water, sanitation and electricity coverage is expensive, requiring large-scale investments in infrastructure — yet up to 40% of this is being dissipated through bid rigging and other corruption."   In some countries across the region "state capture", where large corporations effectively take over state functions, remains a threat, the report warns. "In the extraction of natural resources this is one of the most serious and pervasive forms of corruption," it says, estimating that in Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea more than 70% of logging is illegal.   The study calls for a seven-stage strategy, including international co-ordination. Stronger controls over the public sector are urged, along with international benchmarks for anti-corruption agencies, freedom of information and openness of government to the public.   "The real price of corruption is not paid in currency, after all," the report says. "The true costs are eroded opportunities, increased marginalisation of the disadvantaged and feelings of injustice." Visit the related web page
	Nobel laureate calls on Iran to respect international law by The Independent / IJC Iran   7 June 2008   Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi wants justice for victims of the morality police. (The Independent)   Zahra Bani Yaghoub was sitting on a park bench chatting to her fiancé when Iranian religious police arrived and arrested the couple. They were carted off to jail and held in separate cells. The fiancé was released but the body of Ms Bani Yaghoub, a 27-year-old doctor, was delivered to her family two days later.   Iran"s feared morality police have been acting with renewed vigour against what they consider to be unIslamic behaviour. Although the doctor"s death last October is widely known among Iranians because they have internet access, the case received only a brief mention in the state-run media.   Shirin Ebadi, a Tehran-based lawyer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her tireless defence of human rights, is now seeking justice in the case.   Yesterday, she warned that the morality police, who frequently stop women in the street to accuse them of wearing headscarves that are too skimpy, are now threatening to enter the offices of private companies in their Islamic zeal.   Ms Ebadi also said that human rights in Iran had regressed over the past eight years – from the recent arrests of leaders of the Bahai religious sect, to bus drivers jailed for protesting over low pay.   Speaking in London, the Nobel laureate said: "They claimed [Ms Bani Yaghoub] committed suicide in prison, which is a lie. In prison they even take your watchbands and shoelaces from you. Her family believes she was tortured and died as a result. That"s my reading, too.   "Whatever they do is illegal. The question is who is responsible for these illegal actions? These people are committing crimes and therefore should be held accountable by the courts. But the courts are not independent. They are not doing their job properly."   In Ms Bani Yahgoub"s case, Ms Ebadi points out, not only the police but also the judges who jailed her were acting incorrectly. But the courts are protected by the government, she said, adding: "If that were not the case, these judges would have been arrested by now."   Another of her clients, the student Amir Yaghoub-Ali, 22, was jailed last week for campaigning for women"s rights. The charges against him included spreading propaganda against the state. He was detained while promoting the One Million Signatures petition, which calls for an end to discrimination against Iran"s women.   "We are told they were arrested because they were working against national security, but they say that about anyone," added Ms Ebadi. "I sometimes think the Iranian government is suffering from a phobia. They think everyone wishes to overthrow the government. When bus drivers protest against low wages, they are thrown in prison."   Ms Ebadi"s strategy is to oblige Iranian officials to live up to their international obligations, through the law and the courts. Despite continued death threats, she keeps plugging away.   She came to London to publish an English version of a book on refugee rights in Iran. Many of Iran"s one million Afghan refugees have not been given residency permits, so they cannot open bank accounts or send their children to school.   Ms Ebadi insists the issue is not the government"s apparent paranoia about the spread of Western values. "The Iranian government has joined international conventions and says it recognises those human rights provisions as international values, not as Western values," she said. "So under no condition can they claim these are Western values."   June 2008   "The Six leaders of the Baha"i faith in Iran, who were arbitrarily arrested in Tehran on 14 May 2008 and are being held incommunicado, must be released immediately or legally charged with a recognisable offence," said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).   An Iranian official told a local news agency that “the six unofficial leaders of the Baha"i faith in Iran were working against the national interest." He added: "They are arrested for security reasons, not for their faith".   However, according to reliable information, the ICJ consider there to be sufficient evidence to show that they may have been arrested in relation to their peaceful activities as members of the national coordinating group of Bahai"s in Iran.   The detainees, reportedly being held in the offices of the General Intelligence Service, do not have legal representation and are not allowed to communicate with their families. "Unless the Iranian authorities charge them with a recognisable criminal offence and bring them before an independent and impartial tribunal, they must be released at once," said the ICJ.   "The grounds for their detention must be immediately made public, and they must be allowed to communicate with their lawyers and their families."   The ICJ calls on the Iranian authorities to conform with its international human rights obligations and to ensure that these individuals are not detained on the basis of their faith.   Baha’is freedom of conscience and religion are severely restricted, in clear violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Iran has ratified and is obliged to uphold.   The ICCPR specifically stipulates in its article 18 that ”Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching."   The ICJ urges the Iranian authorities to also respect its Criminal Procedure Code, which gives the arrested person the right to be promptly notified of the reasons for their arrest or detention.   The ICJ calls upon the Iranian authorities to ensure that all the detainees are protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and given regular access to their families, their lawyers and any medical attention they may require.
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