Nine civil society organizations from Portuguese-speaking countries warned today that the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) needs to strengthen anti-corruption and governance standards in its member states, particularly in Equatorial Guinea.
Regarding the United Nations General Assembly, which begins today, Transparency and Integrity and eight other civil society organizations from Portuguese-speaking countries consider, in a statement, that “it is important that the agenda of the CPLP in the special session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGASS2021) considers the need to strengthen its anti-corruption and governance standards in Equatorial Guinea”.
For the signatory organizations of the communiqué it is necessary that there is a “fight against corruption and bad governance” in the CPLP member states to “improve human rights and sustainable development,” in the Lusophone countries.
The note states that after “several years of news of corruption scandals related to the member states” of the CPLP, Transparency and Integrity and eight other civil society organizations sign a joint text “demanding that the agenda of the CPLP include the need to strengthen its anti-corruption and governance standards.”
The organizations argue that in the CPLP commercial interests prevail over human rights, while inequalities continue to thrive
The nine signatory organizations of the declaration are the Association for Justice, Peace and Democracy (Angola); Center for Public Integrity (Mozambique); Center for Public Integrity (Sao Tome and Principe); EG Justice (Equatorial Guinea); Press Observatory (Angola); Observatory of Democracy and Governance (Guinea-Bissau); Platform for Reflection (Angola); Transparency International Brazil and Transparency and Integrity / IT Portugal.
In the joint text, the organizations argue that in the CPLP “commercial interests prevail over human rights,” while “inequalities continue to prosper,” considering it worrying that “seven years after admission into the CPLP, Equatorial Guinea has not yet abolished the death penalty, as required by the statutes of the organization.
As for Portugal, the document’s signatories say they believe the country “continues to be a facilitator of corruption schemes, illicit financial flows and money laundering, which end up entering the European Union, as the #LuandaLeaks case has shown.”
In addition, they refer to “the latest investigations into the alleged corruption of Portuguese companies related to elites in Equatorial Guinea,” which in their view “are moving at a very slow pace.”
For all this, they ask the CPLP to commit itself to “adopt and implement the recommendations of the European Union, as well as the UNCAC [United Nations Convention against Corruption] and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention applicable to several member states,” in “strict respect for the rule of law and the fundamental rights of citizens, including freedom of association and freedom of expression and assembly.”
Because only in this way, they believe, “will it be possible to ensure that fundamental democratic values are preserved within the Community.
For their part, they make themselves available to “support these efforts, at the national and community levels” and urge the CPLP to “not continue to ignore that the suffering of the people is magnified by the lack of a serious commitment to eradicate corruption, for example, through the implementation of guidelines against money laundering and the end of illicit financial flows from CPLP countries in the Global South, enabled and channeled through Portugal.”
