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* * * Working In the Shadows – Film Depicts Reality of Haitian Forced Labor in the Dominican Republic A new documentary called The Price of Sugar unearths a serious issue that is rarely talked about in the United States – the forced recruitment of Haitians by sugar plantation owners in the Dominican Republic. Smuggled across the border, these Haitians, whose identity papers are confiscated, work under deplorable conditions on the vast Dominican sugar plantations. The movie notes that the United States gives trade preference to sugar imports from the DR, but seems oblivious to the quasi-slavery conditions that are used to cut the sugar cane. A U.S. Department of State report was released in 1989 on the subject and Human Rights Watch wrote about Haitian forced labor in 1990, but since then, the situation has been given little attention, until the release of this powerful new movie.* * * SCCE 2008 Northeast Regional Compliance ConferenceMay 2, 2008, Washington, DC The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics announces the Northeast Regional Compliance Conference to be held in Washington, D.C. on May 2nd. The SCCE Regional Compliance Conferences are one day conferences on creating and maintaining compliance & ethics programs in a variety of industries. The Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP) exam is offered (optional) the following day for those that wish to take the exam. For more information, please see the SCCE website.SCCE 2008 Midwest Regional Compliance ConferenceMay 16, 2007, Chicago IL For more information on the midwest conference, please see the SCCE website. * * * Corporate Ethics & Compliance AsiaTransforming Corporate Ethics & Compliance into a Competitive Advantage
27-29th May, Hong Kong
* * * Corporate Fraud Alert 2008 – Focus on ChinaMay 28, 2008 Shanghai Executing business ethics and compliance programs that embrace every employee is a delicate challenge. Beating corruption and fraud in companies is imperative. The China Economic Review has invited leading businesspeople and market experts to help decision makers enhance ethics and compliance programs, develop anti-fraud measures and thereby avoid risks and boost competitive advantage. Topics to be addressed:
For more information and how to register, please visit the conference website. * * * From Canada - Perspectives on the Federal Conflict of Interest RegimePresentation by Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Mary Dawson, C.M., Q.C.May 28, 2008 The Albany Club Toronto, Ontario The Canadian Centre for Ethics and Corporate Policy is a uniquely Canadian, independent ethics centre dedicated to promoting and maintaining an ethical orientation and culture in Canadian organizations. The conflict of interest regime in the federal government has undergone significant changes over the last few years, most recently with the passage of the Federal Accountability Act. This presentation will provide an overview and some observations on the regime for federal public office holders and Members of the House of Commons. Cost: Register on the Centre's web site or contact the Centre by phone: (416) 368-7525 or e-mail: lmarsh@ethicscentre.ca, noting any special dietary requirements. * * * Business Ethics and Anti-Corruption Strategies"Mitigate Potential Risks through Strong Programmes, Promote Good Governance to Avoid Non-Compliance and Extra Financial Burden" This conference will provide experience-based insight into the following approaches and methods:
Conference is hosted by Marcus Evans, sponsored by Clifford Chance, LRN and Price Waterhouse Coopers To learn more about registration details, please visit the Marcus Evans website.
* * * Asia Pacific Corporate Social Responsibility Conference9-11 July 2008, Singapore Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming a bigger priority to organizations in Asia Pacific. The conference, hosted by Salvo Global, is specifically designed to meet CSR professional demands to better their initiatives, strengthen their commitments and balance their investments. This event will address project selection, resource allocations, and impact measurements. The event will feature expert opinions and case study presentations from world class organizations such as Coca-Cola, India; Boeing International, UAE; Malaysian Airlines, Malaysia; PepsiCo International, Thailand; Timberland, Singapore; and many more. Why you should attend:
Click here for more details on registration. * * * Anti-Corruption Boot Camp25 - 26 September 2008 Le Meridien Montparnasse, Paris, France This C5 Anti-Corruption Boot Camp will provide an excellent working knowledge of international anti-corruption framework and strategies needed to successfully build, implement and monitor an efficient anti-corruption compliance programme. You will benefit from a deep dive into the topics including:
C5 Group companies including American Conference Institute, The Canadian Institute, C5 (UK), and now C5 (China), have developed and hosted conferences, summits and executive briefings providing the business intelligence that decision makers need, to react decisively and effectively to challenges and opportunities in the marketplace. For more information and how to register, please visit the conference website. * * * Global Transparency: Fighting Corruption for a Sustainable Future13th International Anti-Corruption Conference30 October - 2 November 2008 Athens, Greece Transparency and accountability serve as the prerequisites for positive and equitable change to happen. At the 13th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC), leading practitioners and experts on sustainability, governance and transparency will meet to discuss the role of corruption and governance in the crucial questions that will make or break a sustainable future. Representatives of civil society, government and business from around the world engage in spirited and frank debates to find effective solutions for tackling corruption and limit its pervasive impact on peoples’ lives, particularly on the most vulnerable. The Greek government is the host and head organizer of this conference and is overseen by the IACC Council, part of Transparency International. Last day of registration is 18 October 2008. See the conference website for more details and how to register. * * *
* * * NEW Contest! Solutions to End Modern-Day Slavery "Once and For All"Hosted by Humanity United and Ashoka's Changemakers Humanity United and Changemakers are launching a global competition to identify innovative approaches to exposing, confronting, and ending modern-day slavery. The online competition will help raise awareness of the hidden problem of forced labor and provide a collaborative forum for those working to battle it. Ending Global Slavery: Everyday Heroes Leading the Way aims to find holistic solutions to modern-day slavery by recognizing individuals and organizations that have raised awareness of the issue's root causes, liberated those in bonded labor, and successfully reintegrated former slaves into communities. This one-of-a-kind competition celebrates and welcomes innovations on policy, research and grassroots levels. The competition will accept applications on the Ashoka's Changemakers website through June 11, 2008. During this time, applications will be available for review, comment and discussion on the website. Once the competition has closed, a panel of judges will select approximately 12 finalists and three winners. The winners will receive $5,000 in funding to pursue and expand their work.
Ashoka's Changemakers: Thanks to your votes, Nike and Ashoka's Changemakers are very pleased to announce three winners from more than 380 entries in the global search for innovations that use sport for social change. India - “Restoring Dignity of Homeless Youth - Changing the face of Cities” * * *TRACE Announces Second Annual Essay Contest on BriberyThe topic for 2008 is: "What Works?" What personal behaviors, what laws or policies, what deterrents or incentives, what reporting devices or transparency mechanisms, what educational campaigns, what measures of any kind have been or could be effective in resisting or curtailing bribery? The judges are interested in hearing from a wide variety of voices, including private persons who have dealt with bribery, corporate or government officials, scholars, lawyers, journalists and others. Successful essays may address any or all of the points above. Writers may speak from experience or from research, or from a combination of the two. The judges are equally interested in anecdotes and in data. Entries must not exceed 2,500 words and must be original, unpublished work. A brief synopsis not to exceed 150 words should precede the essay, and each submission should include the full name, e-mail address and phone number of all authors. The submission deadline for this contest is 11:59 p.m., EDT, May 31, 2008. On or before May 31, 2008, please e-mail your essay, the brief synopsis, and all necessary author information to Essay@TRACEinternational.org. Essays may be sent as attachments, but should also be pasted directly into the body of the e-mail. First and second prizes of $US10,000 and $US5,000 respectively will be awarded. Essay winners will be announced and prizes awarded by September 1, 2008. A collection of the winning essays will be published on the TRACE website. See contest guidelines and entry information or send an e-mail to Essay@TRACEinternational.org. * * * TI Calls for 2008 Integrity Award NominationsThe Transparency International annual Integrity Awards are the most prestigious awards to anti-corruption fighters. This year – the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights – TI plans to hold its awards ceremony in New York. The close ties between corruption and human rights abuse are too rarely appreciated, yet it is no coincidence that countries whose governments are repeatedly seen as having high levels of corruption are all too often identical to those with the worst human rights records. Fighting corruption – be it at the village or the national levels – demands courage. Transparency International Announces 2007 Integrity Award Winners
This year’s winners are Le Hien Duc (left), from Vietnam, and Mark Pieth (right), a native of Switzerland. Duc has vigorously filed complaints and tracked down numerous high and low-level officials helping fellow citizens to challenge petty bribery and wide-scale graft. Pieth has fought corruption internationally as an outspoken and harsh critic of governments that have not accepted the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. He is the co-founder of the Basel Institute on Governance, a chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery and as a member of the independent committee that investigated the Iraq Oil-for-Food program at the United Nations. See TI website for more information.
* * * Global Witness Receives 2007 Commitment to Developement Award
The Commitment to Developement Award, sponsored by the Center for Global Development and Foreign Policy magazine has honored Global Witness for its hard-hitting investigative reporting which has exposed the links between corruption, conflict, and the natural resource trade. Global Witness has crusaded to stop the plunder of rain forests in Cambodia and Burma and helped to bring the problem of conflict diamonds in Africa to the world's attention. Its first investigation of illegal timber sales by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia shut down that trade in 1995. A headline-making Global Witness report in 1998 showed how rebels in Angola were financing a deadly civil war by selling diamonds. That work, along with a January 2000 report by Partnership Africa Canada, another crusading NGO, on the role of diamonds in the civil war in Sierra Leone, figured prominently in the establishment of the Kimberley Process to certify diamonds that are not mined from conflict zones. Global Witness was also a founder of the Publish What You Pay campaign, which seeks transparency about how resource-rich governments spend their share of mineral revenues. Global Witness is now continuing to expose corruption in various areas, including corruption in the natural resource trade, ending impunity, and the role of financial institutions in money laundering. The three co-founders and their 35 member staff post new articles daily on their website trying to keep global leaders on their toes. * * * First Robin Cosgrove Prize for Ethics in Finance Awarded The Robin Cosgrove Prize was created in September 2006 to promote greater awareness among young people throughout the world of the benefits of ethics in finance; it will contribute to strengthening the foundations and good quality management of banking and finance based on trust and integrity, especially in emerging markets. Prizes are awarded to young people, aged 35 or under, for innovative and creative papers setting out proposals or projects to promote ethics in finance and banking. The evaluation process was carried out anonymously by a distinguished international jury, with experts from the academic and professional world. After thorough reviews and discussions, seven papers were short-listed. From these seven, three winners have been announced: Ms. Clare Payne, from Australia, 1st prize ex-aequo, (USD 10000). Mr. Jonathan Wisebrod, from Canada, 1st prize ex-aequo, (USD 10000). Ms. Rania Abdul Rahim Mousa, from Egypt. special prize Raiffeisen, (USD 4000). Details about the winners and the seven short-listed papers can be found on the Robin Cosgrove Prize website. You can also find contact information for those wishing to participate in the next contest. The Robin Cosgrove Prize for Ethics in Finance was launched in September 2006, to honor the vision of Robin Cosgrove, a young investment banker, who died in 2004 aged 31. The second Robin Cosgrove Prize will be launched in June 2008.
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APPOINTMENTS Global Integrity, an award-winning international non-profit organization dedicated to tracking governance and corruption trends around the world, is seeking interested journalists, researchers, social scientists, and other experts with a background in governance and corruption issues to prepare its Global Integrity Report: 2008. An overview of the 2007 Global Integrity Report was recently posted on EthicsWorld. To apply, send a CV or resume with full contact information to info@globalintegrity.org as soon as possible, and no later than May 15, 2008. To learn more about collaborating with Global Integrity, please visit its website. * * * Tiri Expands: Seeks Senior Executives Tiri, an independent, non-governmental organization that works with governments, businesses, and civil society to find practical solutions to making integrity work is expanding and seeks three new executives. Tiri, with offices in London and in Jerusalem, seeks a Program Director for its Business Integrity Program; a Director of Professional Integrity Training; and, the Head of Education Resource Development. To view the official job postings, click here. What is Tiri? New Zealander Jeremy Pope was one of the founders of Tiri and influenced the selection of the name of the organization. It is a Maori word whose meaning embraces the protection of society by the removal of no-go areas (taboos) and the lifting of prohibitions or obstructions. It can also mean the scattering of seeds to bring forth a new generation. This not-for-profit consulting firm with a specialization on anti-corruption was created several years ago by Pope and Fredrik Galtung, both of whom had played key roles in the founding and development of Transparency International and who had led TI’s global research. Fredrik Galtung, now Tiri’s CEO, had been TI’s first employee in Berlin in 1993 and Jeremy Pope joined TI late that year as TI’s first Managing Director. Tiri today is engaged in many countries with not-for-profit organizations, government departments and business. * * * Cobus de Swardt Appointed TI Managing Director
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Launched in 2000, the Transparency International Integrity Awards honor the bravery of 
individuals and organizations around the globe whose efforts are making a distinct difference in curbing corruption. According to TI “Integrity means having the strength to resist a bribe, the courage to report an act of corruption, or the willingness to take action and stop the abuse of power for private gain.”
