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CORRUPTION AND CIVIL SOCIETY; HOW THE LATTER CAN (AND CAN‘T) HELP US TACKLE THE FORMER. Michael Badham-Jones Felicitas Neuhaus Francisco Valenzuela. Research project as part of an internship with the OACU. What we set out to achieve.
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CORRUPTION AND CIVIL SOCIETY; HOW THE LATTER CAN (AND CAN‘T) HELP US TACKLE THE FORMER Michael Badham-Jones Felicitas Neuhaus Francisco Valenzuela Research project as part of an internship with the OACU
What we set out to achieve • To what extent do law enforcement and civil society work together? • What are the perceptions of each other? • How can things be improved?
Why is it important? Transparency International (TI): ‘Year after year, it’s the same. Our Global Corruption Barometer confirms that corruption hits poor people hardest — with devastating consequences. A bribe demanded by a police officer may mean that a family can’t afford school fees or even food to eat. Findings from Mexico, for instance, show that the typical poor family must spend one-third of their income on bribes • Source: (Transparency International, Poverty and Development, http://www.transparency.org/topic/detail/poverty_and_development (date accessed 19/06/2014).
Why is it important? • Holmes (2014) underlines the interdependency of law enforcement and Civil Society and how action should be coordinated more • Nick Hildyard (Corner House) agrees: ‘It is often difficult to really progress a lot of corruption cases, unless you have very good links on the ground in the places where corruption is going on. This is something the police often lack’
Our Findings - Law Enforcement • Need to keep a healthy distance tocivil society in order not to threaten neutrality • Civil society organisations are unaware of the complexity and difficulties of investigations • Two views seem to exist: • 1) involve civil society organisations and explain the difficulties of law enforcement to them • 2) keep distance to civil society organisations; primary goal is investigations
Our Findings - Civil Society • Civil society organisations will refer cases to law enforcement • Work with law enforcement to formulate policy recommendations • It is a ‘valued relationship’ • Advice to law enforcement: Engage more with citizens to make them aware how to report/identify corruption • -> Collaborate with civil society organisations
Concluding remarks • Both sides seem to be open to working with one another, however there is no an established way of coordination. It takes two to tango • Draw up statement of intents/memoranda of understanding • ‘It is important for anti-corruption campaigners to gain an understanding of what is required in terms of the burden of proof.’