Political corruption affects us all. Citizens in three out of four countries polled by TI and Gallup International in 2003 and in 2004 singled out political parties as the institution they perceived as most corrupt.

Reflecting this worldwide concern, TI has made corruption in politics a global priority areaand has been working at both national and international levels on the issue for several years.

Resources current available include information on the work of TI National Chapters in the areas of:

• campaign and political party finance
• corrupt money flows from the corporate sector to politicians
• obstacles to bringing corrupt politicians to justice
• vote buying
• parliamentary ethics
• electoral fraud and election monitoring

At the international level TI has issued the Standards on Political Finance and Favours in 2004.

Public contracting, whether in the procurement of assets or services or in the disposal of assets, is another global priority area for TI because corruption there, among other things:

• leads to a distortion of fair competition, the waste of scare resources and the neglect of basic needs, thus perpetuating poverty;
• can give rise to massive market inefficiencies and, in the extreme, lead to the destruction of development opportunities; and
• can add 20-25% to the costs of government procurement and frequently result in inferior quality goods and services and unnecessary purchases.

TI has been working on alerting governments, the business community and civil society worldwide about the importance of curbing corruption in public contracting.

Among the resources TI has developed are:

• concrete guidelines and tools such as its integrity pacts and various other anti-corruption instruments; and
• information on the work in this area of other TI chapters as well as on global activities and tools.

Although practices that were once seen as an inevitable part of doing business in many parts of the world are becoming increasingly unacceptable there are many signs that corrupt practices are alive and well in the business sector.

Resources avaiable to TTTI in this area include tools developed by TI to help companies develop effective anti-bribery programmes. Foremost among these is the Business Principles for Countering Bribery.

TI also works at both international and national levels with industry sectors such as the defence industry, the engineering and construction industry and the extractive industries.

Corruption is a worldwide and cross-border affliction. Agreements that establish international, regional or sub-regional frameworks of rules and standards that promote domestic action and facilitate international cooperation are therefore vital to winning the war against corruption.

TI and its national chapters play an important role in promoting international anti-corruption conventions from the negotiation phase through to monitoring their transformation into law and their application in practice.

Of special concern to TTTI are the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (IACAC) and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

Resources for our work on these are available from TI in the form of several publications, the most important of which is 'Anti-corruption conventions in the Americas: What civil society can do to make them work'.