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	African communities want more information from ICC by Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) African Union   July 2009   (Reporting by IWPR reporters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and The Hague).   The International Criminal Court, ICC, is under increasing pressure from lawyers, NGOs and journalists to do more to inform African communities affected by violence about the progress of investigations and trials of those accused of war crimes.   The ICC is based in The Hague in The Netherlands, thousands of kilometres away from the countries it deals with: Uganda, the Central African Republic, CAR, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.   It is in the DRC – the country with the most indictees before the court – that the voices of discontent are the loudest.   IWPR has interviewed Congolese journalists, lawyers and civil society activists who say that people on the ground have little idea about what is going on in The Hague.   The ICC has instigated proceedings against five Congolese so far and investigations continue. Ituri militia leader Thomas Lubanga is currently on trial, and Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, also from Ituri, will take the stand in September.   Shortly afterwards the trial of ex vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba will commence. Only rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda remains at large.   Spreading the word about what is happening in The Hague in the DRC, a country the size of Western Europe, is an unenviable challenge.   The court has thus far concentrated its efforts in Ituri province, holding daily two hour-long interactive conversations with eight community radio stations there. But journalists say attention needs to be spread elsewhere..   Justice Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor for the Rwanda and Yugoslav war crimes tribunals, said that the media is “the most effective way to explain what is happening in the court, and counter any negative rumours or misconceptions. If the court doesn"t do this, then it will lose an essential ally"..   * Visit the link below to access this special report. Visit the related web page
	2009 OECD Anti-bribery Convention Progress Report by Transparency International Germany   29 June 2009   The overwhelming majority of the world’s leading exporting nations is failing to fully enforce a ban on foreign bribery, reveals Transparency International’s (TI) 2009 OECD Anti-bribery Convention Progress Report.   The fifth edition of the yearly report shows that just four of 36 countries party to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention are active enforcers. There is moderate enforcement in 11 and little to no enforcement in the 21 remaining countries. Such performance throws into question governments'' commitments and threatens to destabilise the definitive legal instrument to fight international bribery.   In 1997, the member states of the OECD adopted the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Hailed as a landmark event in the fight against international corruption, the Convention represented a collective commitment to ban foreign bribery by the governments of the leading industrialised states, which account for the majority of global exports and foreign investment. The Convention entered into force in 1999 and now has 38 parties.   Inadequate enforcement stems from insufficient political will. Despite commitments and evidence of the damage done by foreign bribery, many governments appear reluctant to penalise companies headquartered in their country that use bribes abroad. This reluctance to translate words into action means that critical legal reforms remain unimplemented, while ill-equipped enforcement agencies struggle to pursue complex cross-border money trails. Statutory and legal obstacles continue to block proper enforcement in 26 of the countries covered. Consequently, companies can be undeterred from exploiting the situation, as illustrated in the report by coverage of major corporations’ bribery schemes.   “Political will must be at the heart of efforts to deliver on anti-bribery,” said Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director at TI. “Especially in the current global recession when businesses face acute pressure to win declining orders. Accelerated enforcement is needed to ensure fair competition..” Visit the related web page
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