Workshop puts forward proposals to fight corruption

The need for transparency in governmental and corporate actions, stricter and more effective penalties in corruption cases, and the creation of reporting channels that protect the author’s anonymity. These are the main convergent points of the proposals put forward by the participants of the workshop “Integrity and anti-corruption practices for a socially responsible market”, held at the 2008 Ethos International Conference.
This work aimed to identify the constraints and risks companies face when implementing the Business Pact for Integrity and Against Corruption in the Companies, launched in 2006, as an initiative of Ethos Institute, UniEthos, Patri – Government Relations and Public Policy, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Global Compact Brazilian Committee. Currently, there are 472 signatory companies to the pact against corruption.
The workshop was attended by over 170 participants, from both the public and private sectors. Female participation was outstanding, around 85% of the attendees. The results achieved in this activity, as well as proposals from other workshops held at the Conference, will be published on the Ethos Institute portal and will be open for suggestions and collaboration in the next months. Further to the work initiated by the workshop organizers, dissemination campaigns aimed at taking the proposals to other discussion and analysis for a will be carried out in several Brazilian states.
“The idea is to listen to everyone involved in the creation of a new scenario and tools for the signatory companies to the pact against corruption, guiding them on how to develop prevention work, and present the same proposals to the bodies that will effectively implement them, such as the National Congress and class associations”, explained Leonardo Machado, of Wal-Mart, one of the working group collaborators who coordinated the meeting.
The workshop dynamics was based on nine items drawn from the Business Pact for Integrity and Against Corruption and the Business Principles for Countering Bribery of Transparency International. The workshop program included questions on external and internal conditions that foster or hinder the application of such practices in the workplace (see here the workshop program questions).
The themes arousing the most interest were “gifts, hospitality and expenses” and “sponsorship and philanthropic contributions.” According to the workshop coordinator Caio Magri, of Ethos Institute, the audience expressed their preference for these themes because employees are at greater risk of being in these situations or because their companies already have an internal policy addressing these themes.
Differently, the theme “electoral campaigns funding” had only three attendees. “Even though the Superior Electoral Court data shows that billions of reais are spent on electoral campaigns, this theme did not draw the participants’ attention. We must see this as a sign”, commented Magri.
The matter of ethics and transparency stood out in all proposals presented, showing the private sector’s commitment to integrity promotion and anti-corruption actions. As for regulations-related actions, the legal entity’s responsibility was also addressed. The participants showed concern about the current legislation, which, according to some accounts, is loose in this respect. Stricter penalties should be applied to legal entities. Fighting impunity is another concern, especially regarding the need to increase the society’s monitoring of political issues.
There was also consensus on the need to create reporting channels that protect the author’s anonymity. Such channels could be present in ethics committees in the companies and government agencies and inside class associations.
Luiz Otávio, PNBE advisor and member of the working group that organized the workshop, stressed the importance of this kind of meeting: “The people who come here are interested in working on reducing corruption and improving integrity-related business practices. They receive information and knowledge from other experiences and leave more able to contribute to improving Brazil”.
That is what Solange Araújo, of Petrobras’ Social Responsibility area, came after. “One of the ten items to create sustainability is fighting corruption. I came here to get more information about it to know how to put an end to this problem”, she says.
Vânia Vieira, Federal Office of the Comptroller General (CGU) Inspection and Control Department coordinator, believes companies can adopt the practices proposed in this workshop. “Now, the role of this Conference, and of the Ethos Institute itself, is to disseminate the ideas presented and support them, because we can see that companies, sometimes, just don’t know where to start from”, commented Vânia. “Large companies already know they should be the role model, take the first step and bring everybody along.”
Being optimistic, Leonardo Machado made a positive assessment of the meeting, considering that large and small companies from various sectors exchanged ideas and experiences: “The proposals presented here are a summary of what will happen in the future. Some ideas may not make much sense or may seem unfeasible, even under the legal aspect, but this paradigm shift aims at an increasingly better Brazil as far as fighting corruption is concerned. These ideas will come true one day. And this day is very near”.

Click here to access the Business Pact for Integrity and Against Corruption’s website Empresa Limpa.
http://www.empresalimpa.org.br

See here the documents used to develop this workshop.
http://www.empresalimpa.org.br/conferencia2008.aspx

See here the text of the Business Pact for Integrity and Against Corruption.
http://www.empresalimpa.org.br/temos_adesao.aspx

 

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