On this Wednesday, October 24, at the 18th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Copenhagen, 170 activists from 63 countries signed a letter expressing concern to the growing threats to civil society and the democratic institutions in Brazil.
In the text, the international community of anticorruption specialists gathered at the 18th IACC alert that the reduction of civil society’s space for expression and action can seriously weaken the fight against corruption and democratic stability.
Read the statement below:
STATEMENT
Over the past years we have seen with great concern how governments in different parts of the world have been taking measures in order to reduce the space for expression and action of civil society, seriously weakening the fight against corruption and democratic stability.
In view of the recent declarations of the Brazilian presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, against civil society organizations and the threat of criminalizing as terrorist some social movements, we, undersigned activists of the anticorruption community gathered at the 18th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Denmark, manifest the following:
Express our rejection of any attempt to threaten the freedom and security of organized civil society and investigative journalists or the autonomy and legitimacy of democratic institutions.
Call on the candidates of the Brazilian elections to implement, when getting into power, a policy of respect of citizen rights as well as of the organizations that represent civil society.
Call on the same candidates to commit to upholding and advancing the recent efforts of the Brazilian institutions and society to fight against corruption and end historic impunity of the powerful and rich in the country, efforts that are internationally recognized as successful and legitimate, including through awarding the Task Force on the Car-Wash (Lava Jato) case with the international Anti-Corruption Award at the last IACC of 2016 in Panama.
Call on the multilateral institutions, the democratic governments, and the international civil society organizations in general to be vigilant and impede any intention to reduce the space for civil society in Brazil and other parts of the world.
Copenhagen, 24th October 2018
