Data Privacy Day 2021 - Part II

                          This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published at https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/94458-what-to-prioritize-this-data-privacy-day. The second was published at https://is.richmond.edu/infosec/dataprivacyday/index.html

                  Isabelle Dumont, Vice President of Market Engagement at Cowbell Cyber said, "the digital footprint of people and business has expanded exponentially over the past year because of the pandemic and remote work. We spend more time online, connecting through video conferences, shopping on e-commerce sites, or sharing stories in online communities. Data privacy Day in 2021 is a great reminder and an opportunity for all to assess and fine-tune how they engage online so that both personal and professional information remain safe." Brendan O'Connor, CEO and Co-Founder at AppOmni said, "The way organizations store data has shifted rapidly to the cloud. At the same time, sensitive data has grown in scope and complexity. They have evolved into complex platforms that provide access not only to internal users, but also to external users, 3rd party apps, contractors, and managed service providers. In short, there are now more access points to data housed in the cloud. Unfortunately, these access points are often unknown, or simply overlooked, by enterprise security teams. This has created a massive opportunity for attackers to exploit these applications, which is why we have seen so many successful hacks in recent months. Howard Taylor, CISO said, "the growth of the digital economy, accelerated by the pandemic, has forced the world to provide more and more personal information online. Customers, business and governments must adjust to effectively manage personal relationships in the digital world. These three bodies must work together to develop a balanced, practical approach, menabling the beneficial flow of personal information, while stemming problematic activities. Adrian Moir, Engineer at Quest Software said, "with a change in working practices comes an opportunity to look closer at the impact of data privacy. With a distributed workforce, there are issues surrounding differing threat vectors and data usage that may compromise data privacy. Consider now that you may have hundreds or thousands of workers at home sharing their network with devices that do not meet corporate standards.  Human involvement has a lot to do with a level of data privacy breach. It is important to educate your workers and reinforce your data protection and privacy policies and provide solution deemed suitable to sustaining the new working culture. Saket Modi, CEO at Lucideus said, "we are stepping into an era that is more digital-dependent than ever before. The ethical and moral responsabilities that come with its abundance have rested with governments and the corporate world, the user (consumer) has to start sharing the onus. They need to take control of their digital footprint and privacy. They must know, objectively and in real time, what they expose online, devices they own, along with staying updated with modern leveraged by cybercriminals to misuse data. To that end they can start safeguarding some of the most recurring pain points. Andrew Sellers, Chief Technology Office and Co-founder at QOMPLX, said, "this year's Data Privacy Day will allow us a collective moment to reflect on how COVID-19 has impact the privacy landscape. Companies have quickly responded to a new working culture as they faced economic uncertainty and social movements. For many of us, working from home and contact tracing have become part of our new normal during this pandemic. In the age of surveillance capitalism, as Shoshana Zuboff has termed our times, many uses of these technologies are not anonymized and are far less benevolent. Consumers are becoming more aware of these issues and are becoming to hold companies accountable with their purchasing patterns by demanding products that include end-to-end encryption that users can manage. As wonderful and enabling as new tech has the potential to be, Data Privacy Day is yet a good reminder that we must also be aware of what is at stake as we collectively work toward a better future." David Blonder, Data protection Officer at Blackberry said, "the pandemic has forced organizations to implement a long-term remote work strategy to meet the ongoing needs of their customers, partners and employees. To address the unprecedented challenges of home-office, many organizations have looked to tech solutions to support their digital transformation. As we celebrate Data Privacy Day , it is important for organizations to understand that we all play a vital role in protecting privacy and personal data. To have a connected future, organizations must secure, protect and respect the personal data of customers, partners and employees, not only to differentiate themselves, but to create a relationship of trust, confidence and loyalty. Adam Mayer, Senior Manager at Qlik said, "real-time data is one of the most valuable resources for modern businesses; it enables organizations to make the right decision in the business moment. A holistic approach to data governance is needed to ensure that organizations are able to harness real-time data insights without privacy issues arising. Understanding the data lineage, managing user aceess through a data catalogue, as well as providing data education so that people understand how to responsibly draw from and use different data sources, are key to ensuring that operating at the speed of business won't contribute towards creating new compliance concerns.                                                                           Data privacy Day brings together businesses and private citizens to share the best strategies for protecting private information. The 2021 Data Privacy Day theme is "Own Your Privacy." Each year, data breaches continue to grow in size and scope, exposing consumer's private data and valuable business information assets. Against this backdrop, Data Privacy Day helps spread awareness about privacy and educates citizens on how to secure their personal information. It also works to encourage businesses to be more transparent about how they collect and use data. University of Richmond is a Data Privacy Day Champion. And as a champion, recognizes and support the principle that all organizations share the responsibility of being conscientious stewards of personal information. UR joins the growing global effort among nonrpofits, academic institutions, corporations, government entities and individuals to raise awareness at home, at work and school and in their communities. All Data Privacy Day Champions are working toward the common goal of improving individual and business consciousness toward respecting privacy, safeguarding data and enabling trust.

Data Privacy Day 2021

                          Almost one month ago, precisely on 28th January, in North America and Europe was celebrated one of the most basic and important human right, the right to privacy.  All over the world they understand the importance of privacy to a dignified life, to autonomy, to security, to a life without harm, bullying, huge stress, unjustified annoying, drag and intrusive situation.   We must all fight for this right, because with its violation many others rights are also violated. If you want to have an idea about its importance, imagine your life without your privacy. All dimensions of a person's life is harmed, his relationships, his employability, his socialization, his entrepreneurship, his health, his anonymity,  there is not one aspect of the person that is not affected. And it is not only the individual that suffers, the democracy, the rule of law, and the trust in the institutions are also damaged.  One more reason we need combat the human rights violations, the violators could think that they are able to do more and more. This is why can not have impunity in so serious violations, like privacy`s violations. Everybody should understand why we all need to fight against violations of human rights. And when they happened, we all must fight for reparation to the victims. If you saw a privacy's violation, record it, and be a witness. The justice needs all of us. This post is a summary of two articles, the first was published at   https://informationsecurity.princeton.edu/DPD. The second was published at https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/94458-what-to-prioritize-this-data-privacy-day

                                In celebration of International Data Privacy Day and collaboration with the Center for Digital Humanities' Privacy Initiative, Princeton University's Information Security Office will discuss several software applications that were developed with privacy in mind. In 2020, the world's citizens experienced a broad spectrum of events that disrupted people's lives, from economic turbulence, to the pandemic, to social movements, environmental disasters, and much more. While technology has raced to lead and respond to these times of change, data privacy practices are often left behind, leaving individuals to wonder just how private their data is. Data Privacy Day 2021 will look at privacy through the lens of the various changes we have faced in the past year, and will not only provide a survey of the current privacy landscape, but expert insights on where we as individuals and organizations can improve.                                                       Data Privacy Day is a global effort, taking place annually on January 28th, that generates awareness about the importance of privacy, highlight easy ways to protect personal information and reminds organizations that privacy is good for business. Data Privacy Day began in North America in January 2008 as an extension of the Data Protection Day in Europe. Individuals today feel an increasing lack of control over their personal data. In fact, according to a recent research, 79% of U.S. adults report being concerned about the way their data is being used by companies. Tim Wade, Technical Director at Vectra said, "it is not by accident that social considerations of privacy have been at the center of the pursuit of justice, equity, and freedom as it relates to civil liberties and rights. And as organic and digital existence converge, this continued frontier increasingly becomes anchored to how the data and digital footprint created by individuals are respected and protected and the awareness they bring to the importance of this matter, and by the organizations and institutions that come to steward what ultimately must still belong to its creator. Too often, discussions of personal privacy tend to inject tension between the protection of an individual against the protections of society at large. In reality, the erosion of personal privacy are also erosions against the protections of society at large; undermining the safety of individual privacy degrades the cultural and social fabrics of trust, liberty and fairness to the detriment of that society. If there is a call to action on this topic, it is that we must be open eyed about the importance of privacy and that the choices we make will directly affect our lives and our livelihood, and the social fabrics we pass to the next generation".  Dirk Schrader, Global Vice President at New Net Technologies, said, "users, consumers have far too often that notion of 'I have nothing to hide' or 'how much can they do with my data?' The inconvenient answer is 'a lot' as there are many ways of using the gender, the age, the location can influence what kind of services are marketed, how often a user sees an ad just to name some less nefarious examples. This kind of profiling might seem harmless but overall it enables businesses to select which products, which services they offer and a what price levels. That is why the call to action for individuals 'own your privacy' deserves a lot of Kudos. Mohit Tiwari, Co-Founder and CEO at Symmetry Systems, said, "You need not give up data privacy so that organizations can thrive off of personalized ad or by hosting customer data in a software app. Road safety is a great example where protocols and training sets appropriate expectations among drivers, bikes, pedestrians, etc. Similarly there is considerable research and new commercial tools for organizations to measure how costumer data is used internally and safeguard it. Joseph Carson, Chief security scientist and Advisory at Thycotic said, "data privacy will, and already is, evolving into a data rights management issue. Citizens' privacy will continue to be under the spotlight in 2021. Regulations will continue to put pressure on companies to provide adequate cyber security measures and follow the principle of least privilege to protect the data they have been entitled to process. I believe the big question, when it comes to data privacy is, 'how is citizens' data being used, collected and processed? Ultimately data rights management means rather than giving up personal data, citizens should and can get paid for allowing their personal data will be used for marketing purposes. It will become more about how the personal data will be used, and what monetization is resulting from the data. Tom Pendergast, Chief Learning Officer at MediaPRO said, "The essence of Privacy Day to me is the realization that privacy is everyone's responsibility. From the boardroom to the loading dock, everyone has a role to play. From a awareness perspective, one of the best ways to do this is to provide education that employees can use both at work and at home".

International Day of Education

          There is a world consensus that governments, politicians, education systems` employees, parents and students must make an effort to upgrade the quality of education. The fourth industrial revolution is about to begin and we all should be prepared for the technological challenge. The law for the implementation of high school reform in Brazil of 2017 was a good step toward the right direction. Now depend on education system of every state for its effective implementation. We all know that integral high school is difficult to implement in the short-term in all states' schools, because most of high school buildings have classes of middle school in the afternoon, but at least the flexibilization of subjects and the sixth class are perfectly possible to implement next year in all schools in every state. So, next year there will be elections, we must not forget to demand the correct  implementation of the high school reform from our candidates for governors` office. We should not wait more, we are wasting precious time. Three weeks ago, precisely on 24 January, the world celebrated the importance of education to our lives, to our future, to our better understanding about everything around us. This post is a summary of three articles. The first was published in 2020 at  https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/education-day-2020-concept-note-en.pdf. The second was published at https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/educationday. The third was published at  https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/international-day-education-2021-harnessing-promise-innovation-education

              The world celebrated the International Day of Education on 24th January 2020, a day proclaimed by the U.N. to honour education and its centrality to human well-being and sustainable development. The 2020 celebration will position education and learning it enables as humanity's greatest renewable resources and reaffirm the role of education as a fundamental right, a public good and an enabler of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. UNESCO will draw on its convening power and engage with education to celebrate the Day around the world by focusing on the many learning can empower people, preserve the planet, build shared prosperity and foster peace. The 2020 theme "Learning for people, planet, prosperity and peace", highlights the integrated nature of education, its humanistic aims, as well as its centrality to our collective development ambitions. It also gives stakeholders and partners flexibility to tailor the celebration for diverse audiences, a variety of contexts and for priority themes. Education, including vocational skills development, is essential for inclusive growth that does not leave anyone behind. Education can enhance job opportunities, increase the incomes of the poorest and, if equitably provided reduce inequality. Education is clearly linked with increased earnings for individuals.                                                                                                                                                                                      "At the peak of the pandemic, schools were actually closed for 91% of learners. It then became apparent to everyone that education was a public good and school was more than just a place of learning that provided protection, well-being, food and freedom. On this International Day of Education, UNESCO invites you to promote education as a fundamental right and the most powerful aid to development that we have". Said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director General. The third International Day of Education 2021 will be marked under the theme: "Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation". Now is the time to power education by stepping up collaboration and international solidarity to place education and lifelong learning at the centre of the recovery.                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Nearly a year after the WHO first declared a global health emergingy, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impose a devastating toll on the education of millions of children and young people. School closure are undermining learning opportunities for students at all levels. As the world marks the International Day of Education, it remains as urgent as ever to tackle the silent global education crisis, which was already festering before the global health crisis and now further aggravated by the pandemic. Countries must mobilize, invest effectively and creatively to make the most of limited resources, and embrace a new vision of education for the future. An estimated 53% of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read and understand a simple text at the age of 10. Early evidence from high-income countries has already revealed learning losses and increase in inequality. The financial strain on families caused by the pandemic recession has also increased the droout rate. While addressing the COVID-19 emergency, countries are laying the foundations for greater resilience in education. What comes next is managing continuity, with the immediate priority to ensure that schools reopen safely and minimize student dropouts. Looking for the future, we need to recover losses and build the foundations for accelerated learning  that  provides the opportunity to build resilient, equitable and personalized education systems that are not confined to the four walls of the classroom. 

120th Birthday of Anisio Teixeira

                A little more than six months ago, precisely on 12th July, the Brazilian writer Anisio Teixeira would complete 120 years old. So this post is a tribute to him. He fought all his life for a better Brazilian education in all levels, but for change really happens we need to involve everybody in this fight, doing quality education a priority for parents, policymakers, educators and students. This post is a summary of three article the first was published at   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An%C3%ADsio_Teixeira. The second was published at https://humanas.blog.scielo.org/en/2020/10/22/in-democracy-education-is-not-a-privilege/. The third was published at https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-59702012000200017&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en

                      Anisio Spínola Teixeira (1900-1971)  was a Brazilian educator, jurist and writer. He was one of the reformers of Brazilian education of the early 20th century, being an advocate of progressive education in the country. He was one of the co-founders of the University of the Federal District in 1935, and of the University of Brasilia in 1960. Anisio Teixeira was born in Caetité, Bahia, child of a doctor and landowner, he graduated in Law at the UFRJ in 1922. He started working as general-inspector of education of the state of Bahia in 1924, and visited Europe between 1925 and 1927, studying the educational system of several countries. In 1927, he went to the U.S. studying at the Columbia University, where he came in touch with John Dewey's pragmatism. Inspired by that philosophy, Anisio came back to Brazil where he went to be R.J. Director of Education. He believed that education should be public, free, and laicist, attuned to a developing industrialized society, not focusing in memoration, but allowing the students' development. In 1951, he was appointed director of Instituto Nacional de Estudos e pesquisas (INEP). He with Darcy Ribeiro and other, planned a new university for Brasilia and then UNB was founded in 1961, with Anisio Teixeira as its first rector. After the 1964 Brazilian coup d'etat, Teixeira went to the U.S., teaching at the Universities of Columbia and California. Back in Brazil in 1966, he became a consultant for the Getulio Vargas Foundation. Anisio Teixeira died in 1971, in circumstances considered obscure. His body was found in an elevator in Rio de Janeiro. Despite the accidental death report, there are suspicions that he was a victim of the repression forces of military government.                                                                                                                                                                                                         In Anisio's view, the public school offers a democratic, critical, emancipatory education which are the basis for integration and social development. In this aspect, schools for a democratic society must necessary be universal, free, mandatory, secular and efficient, also it must constitute national policy. The education he proposed consists of creating a democratic environment provided by scholar education that demands a school built for this purpose. The public school, proposed by Anisio, is one that enables and stimulates the plurality of social participation and considers the students' interest in educational practice, focusing its work on the development of students' relational, intellectual and operational skills. It is through this school that we can make individuals realize the importance of their intellectual freedom, the development of their abilities, and how much they are strengthened when thinking and practicing together. Therefore, public schools is they way to establish intellectual and political equality, In Anisio Teixeira's view (1971), this is the way in which the problems of the rigid social stratification and the serious unevenness of Brazilian society could be faced, aiming for the creation of equal opportunities according to the essence of the democratic regime. The research points to the need of raising awareness and fighting for democratic rights, especially in the field of education, and of the investment of training professional educators with a reflexive, critical, and political freedom. For the democratic transformation to happen, it is also proposed the construction of educational public policies that encourage and provide opportunities for popular participation as a mean to develop citizenship habits. Thus, the schools is no longer an institution separated from reality and becomes the space of an educational community that interacts with civil society. The reflection upon the role of the public school, in the formation of a democratic society, becomes even more pertinent and necessary in the time that the world is living. The COVID19 pandemic increased social inequality in education and quality education is everyone's right and democracy can not tolerate the privileges of the elites.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 "Education is not just an asset for individuals, but a need for society". This statement by Anisio Teixeira was made in May 1968. His intention upon saying this was to highlight the social function of universities, which he understood as shaping and divulging the nation's culture, as producing knowledge, as fostering empirical study and research, as harboring professionals of acknowledged technical expertise. If the problem of Brazil's modernization was on the agenda in the 1920s-1930s, uniting the education who signed the 1932 manifesto, then in the 1950s-1960s, the same issue was taken up again in a different manifesto that was published in 1959. With many signatories in common with the previous ,amifesto, with whom new figures joined forces, the manifesto "mais uma vez convocados" expressed the urgency they felt at the time to have education democratized. The changes brought in by the coup d'etate and ensuing military dictatorship in 1964 marked another period of regression and dispersion of the work of intellectuals involved in education projects, demonstrating that in Brazil the impact caused by new institutional models is not enough of itself to assure results, nor even the continuation of changes in the field of culture. The movement to restructure Brazil's universities in the 1960s was constrained by the higher education reform of 1968. This reform was critized on two counts by Anisio Teixeira, who did not believe that changing, improving or modernizing Brazil's universities could be achieved by legal instruments. In his view, higher education reform had to burgeon from the inside. Defending liberty as a basic principle and by which teaching and research were undertaken within universities. Anisio further added that the steadfast defensen of universities autonomy could never be achieve as a state concession, but as the outcome of the free exercise of university activities, constituting a model of democratic culture and practice.

International Anti-Corruption Day - Part II

                    This post is a summary of four articles. The first was published at   https://ungass2021.unodc.org/ungass2021/index.html. The second was published at   https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_2416. The third was published at https://www.ifes.org/publications/ifes-helps-shape-uns-international-anti-corruption-agenda. The fourth was published at https://www.idlo.int/news/policy-statements/statement-idlo-special-session-general-assembly-against-corruption-2021

                   On 17 December 2018, the General Assembly adopted resolution 73/191 entitled "Special session of the General Assembly against corruption", in which it decided to convene in the first half of 2021 a special session on challenges and measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation. The Assembly invited the conference of the states to lead the preparatory process for the special session by addressing all organizational and substantive matters in an open-ended manner and requested the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime to provide substantive expertise and technical support. The Conference approved a draft resolution entitled "Special session of the General Assembly against corruption", for subsequent adoption by the General Assembly, in which it decided that the special session will be held from 2 to 4 June 2021. The UNGASS 2021 website was created as a first step in the preparatory process and it is expected to function as a repository for all relevant information relating to the special session. The website will be updated on a continuing basis to reflect the progress made by the Conference in the preparatory process for the special session.                                                                                                                                                                                         The European Commission has taken a number of measures to address corruption in the E.U. Important progress has been made on legislation on anti-money laundering, public procurement, whistle-blower protection and asset recovery. The fight against corruption is among the topics addressed in country-specific recommendations. Further E.U. measures including the new European Public Prosecutor's Office, with a mandate to investigate, prosecute and bring to judgment crimes against the E.U. budget. The recent E.U. Rule of Law Report highlights the fight against corruption as a fundamental pillar for upholding the rule of law. Corruption also has an impact on the business environment, which is why anticorruption is also an important component of the Recovery and Resilience Plans. On the global stage, the E.U. has played an important role in the adoption in the resolution that paved the way for the Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly to combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation, planned for June 2021. The Commission also organises regular anti-corruption workshops across the E.U. to support Menber States and provide funds. Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said: "Corruption is a threat to democracy and it has no place in the E.U. Institutions. By setting out our plans for an anti-corruption review at E.U. level, we are fulfilling our international commitments and we are strengthening the E.U. role in the global fight against corruption.                                                                                                                      The International foundation for  Electoral Systems (IFES) welcomes the opportunity to inform this agenda and believes that global commitment and cooperation on anti-corruption has become even more imperative as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has undermined existing transparency and accountability mechanisms globally and increased the risks of corruption. As part of our contribution to preparations for UNGASS 2021, IFES has recommended that the General Assembly include the following six priority areas in the agenda:  1) Increasing transparency and accountability in political finance.   2) Addressing election-related corrupt practices.   3) Strengthening anti-corruption authorities and other independent institutions.   4) Strengthening judicial ethics and independence.   5) Leveraging civil society to bolster oversight and implementation.   6) Bolstering the U.N. Convention against Corruption review process.                                                                                                                                                                                                         The General Assembly of the U.N. decided to convene a special session on challenges and measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation. The special session, scheduled for 2 to 4 June 2021 will result in the adoption of a "concise and action-oriented political declaration". International Development Law Organization (IDLO) is the only global inter-governmental organization exclusively devoted to promoting rule of law to sustain peace and development, welcomes the organization of a special session to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation. IDLO remains committed to the promotion of transparency and accountability, and people-centered justice through the rule of law and will reflect this commitment. Corruption has a profound negative impact on advancing the rule of law, good governance and human rights and on security and economic progress. The combat of corruption is a major component of Sustainable Development Goals. Corruption, bribery, theft and tax evasion, and other illicit financial flows cost developing countries $1.26 trillion per year. Corruption also poses as a key obstacle to accessing public services, curbs political participation and decision making. Emerging research in Latin America shows that new digital solutions combined with an open data policy could reduce the corruption risks and enhance integrity of public procurement processes. Given the central role played by judicial institutions in the implementation of the range of anti-corruption measures required. Judicial transparency is a fundamental component in preventing of corruption. Key international best practices in ensuring transparency include the publication of judicial decisions, and enhances consistency in judicial decision-making. In Kyrgyzstan the creation of a website with a despersonification system that anonymizes sensitive data enables over 90% of judicial decisions are now published and civil society and the judiciary itself, are using the decisions to advance judicial integrity and professionalism, document judicial trends and develop data-driven tools, such as an interactive map of judicial decisions and related analysis.

International Anti-Corruption Day

                    A little more than one month ago, precisely on 9th December 2020, the world celebrated the fight against corruption. The fight against corruption is very important,  so we all should be involved in this fight, because the theft of public resources harm us all. But we all should know that this fight is not easy, because activists for this important ethical cause can become a target to some powerful persons, the people should not be naive, there are many people that are not interested in this activism, in this fight. This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published    at  https://www.transparency.org/en/news/international-anti-corruption-day-2020-things-can-really-get-better-next-year-ungass-2021. The second was published at https://www.transparency.org/en/ungass-2021-commit-to-transparency-in-company-ownership-for-the-common-good

                     9 December is International Anti-Corruption Day. It is a day for governments, businesses and the whole of society to renew our commitment to working together to end the devastating impact of corruption on people's lives around the world. At the end of a year like 2020, this could not be more important. Independent of Covid-19, investigative journalists' exposes have again this year laid bare the weaknesses in the global financial system that allow public wealth stolen from poor countries to be laundered and spent in rich ones. The crisis has demonstrated that protecting public resources and putting an end to illicit financial flows is a matter of life and death, in the most literal sense. With multiple COVID-19 vaccines showing positive results under rigorous scientific testing, and some countries beginning to distribute, many are thinking ahead to how we "Recover With Integrity" - the theme of this year's International Anti-corruption Day. In its first virtual edition, the 19th International Anti-corruption Conference, welcomed a record number of participants, showing there is a resolute determination among all parts of our societies to achieve a strong recovery which, in the words of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, "must include measures to prevent and combat corruption and bribery." Wherever we look around the world, the criminal and corrupt never cease to undermine the common good. As the deadly proliferation of corruption during the COVID-19 pandemic clearly shows. One key opportunity to tackle corruption challenges head-on is the first U.N. General Assembly Special Session Against Corruption, also known as UNGASS 2021. In far too many parts of the world, high-level public officials are robbing populations. The uncomfortable truth is that advanced economies are enabling or even fueling this kind of corruption. We can not afford UNGASS 2021 to be another event where government leaders take turns to condemn corruption with grandiose metaphors but fail to recognise what must change. That is why we need all parts of societies to come together and call on the international community to use this meeting as a key milestone in fighting corruption. On this international Anti-corruption Day, we are highlighting three key reforms that need to be agreed in the coming months, so that 2021 can be the year when we finally break through the barriers against progress in the global corruption.   1) Transparency in Company Ownership - ever since the Panama Papers in 2016, it has been clear that large-scale theft of public resources is possible because the corrupt can hide behind opaque corporate structures. Abuse of shell companies is among the reasons why many countries are facing greater challenges to day in dealing with COVID-19. For decades, companies with anonymous owners have enabled corruption and other crimes. This has meant that public resources that could have served to improve healthcare systems, were embezzled from public coffers. UNGASS 2021 offers an opportunity to turn the tide. That is exactly what a diverse group has said in an appeal in a letter, asks government leaders to endorse central, public registers of ownership as a global standard. At UNGASS 2021, we must commit to transparency in company ownership for the common good.    2) Justice Instead of Impunity - After the veil of secrecy is stripped, and we know who's robbing our communities, will there be justice? Unfortunately, national justice systems are often unable or unwilling to hold the powerful to account. At the same time, corrupt high-level officials have the upper hand and can act with impunity under the current international framework. The former dictator of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh is a textbook case. After being ousted from power in 2017, he has lived in comfortable exile in Equatorial Guinea. How can he and others be brought to account? There are no simple solutions, but there are multiple proposals on the table. We urge UNGASS 2021 to mandate the creation of a task force to study available solutions and suggest the way forward. This group should be asked to propose a legal definition of grand corruption, referred to as "corruption involving vast quantities of assets" in U.N. documents, as well as new agreements and mechanisms to endure accountability. But during U.N. gatherings, impunity for grand corruption is often the elephant in the room. We need the governments to step up during UNGASS 2021 once and for all. Reluctance to focus on the most serious forms of corruption has nothing to do with political ideology. It is about protecting the self-interests of those in powerful positions.    3) Recovery of Stolen Assets - Justice is not only about prosecuting corrupt officials, but also about compensating the communities and individuals that have been robbed, a legal process called asset recovery. Stolen money is often hidden in richer countries, in real estate, company shares or bank accounts. Consider Isabel dos Santos, whose assets were seized earlier this year in Portugal at the request of Angolan authorities. But there are barriers to returning assets to their rightful owners, even when they are located and confiscated. Countries signed on to the U.N. Coalition Anti-Corruption should recognise the links between asset recovery and the realisation of human rights as enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In 2020, it is abundantly clear that corruption does not recognise national borders. Those in political power abuse gaps in the international anti-corruption framework to steal. On this International Anti-Corruption Day, we are calling on government leaders to do their part in tackling the global crisis of corruption, so that our communities can recover not just from 2020, but from decades of impunity for grand corruption.                                                         The U.N. General Assembly's decision to hold a Special Session against corruption in 2021 created a historic opportunity for the international community to address the global crisis of corruption. The undersigned groups and individuals are united in the conviction that it is of the utmost urgency to put an end to the abuse of anonymous companies that facilitates corruption. Companies that exist only in paper are tools for the diversion of resources needed to advanced development. Beneficial ownership information on the persons who ultimately own, control or benefit from a legal vehicle, enables cross-border enforcement and the tracing of ill-gotten assets for confiscation and return. In public contracting processes, it helps in the detection of conflicts of interest and corruption. We have come together to address government leaders currently preparing for UNGASS 2021  with one clear message, transparency in company ownership is more than a technical solution to a problem. It is a matter of social justice. Corruption devastates the lives of billions of people around the world. We need decisive reforms to ensure that the resources needed to pay for critical public services such as schools and hospitals are not simply misappropriated and hidden. The time for action is now.

Report on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in the Americas

                    This post is a summary of the chapter V with the title of, "Problems faced by human rights defenders in the hemisphere," of the report with the title above published at   http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Defenders/defenderschap5.htm

                    A large number of human rights defenders in the Americas are victims of reprisals and undue restrictions as a result of their work of promoting and protecting the rights of persons who live in the hemisphere. This makes the work of protecting and defending human rights difficult, and in many cases risky. The Inter-American Commission on Human rights has verified the existence of a variety of practices that hinder the exercise of human rights defense. These practices are violations of the right to life, liberty and security, due process and a fair trial, freedom of expression, privacy, and judicial protection. The Commission considers it  necessary to clarify that patterns have been established based on disturbing incidents that constitute violations of rights. Nonetheless, there are common characteristics that make it possible to determine and classify the patterns such as: who commits the violations, when they are committed, and the persons who are the victims of such conduct. The Commission wishes to emphasize that one of the most serious consequences of these patterns of violations targeting human rights defenders is that they send society as a whole an intimidating message putting it in a defenseless situation. These acts are aimed at causing generalized fear, and so, at discouraging all other human rights defenders, and intimidating and silencing the denunciations, claims, and grievances of the victims of human rights violations, spurring on impunity, and full realization of the rule of law and democracy. Both the Commission and the Inter-American Court have found that violations of the human rights defenders have a direct intimidating effect on the processes of vindicating rights or denouncing violations. This chilling effect is suffered by the victims of human rights violations, who under the effect of fear refuse to lodge complaints, will not meet with threatened human rights defenders, and stay away from the offices of organizations that have been threatened. Based on the information received, it has been observed that the violators seek to provoke generalized fear to avoid public denunciations. To this end, the vulnerability-exacerbating effects of such conduct extend persersely to society as a whole, with a much more detrimental impact on defenders. This effect, in addition, re-victimizes those who have been targets of violations, whose search for the truth, justice and reparation is impeded. In some states violations are systematic and interrelated, producing a general atmosphere of danger for the defense of human rights. This danger is all the greater if there is a serious lack of state protection and a failure to investigate the violations. On other occasions, The risk increases when grievances are put forth by defenders advocating the adoption of administrative measures or changes in state policy. In other cases, the violations appear to be acts of retaliation when a favorable result is obtained, such as demarcating indigenous territories, expropriating lands for campesino communities, awarding compensation to the victims of violations, or publishing truth commission reports. Human rights defenders are frequent victims of violations of the right to life such as extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances. Such violations are one of the most serious obstacles to the work of human rights promotion by society in general. In additional, the Commission has received, with concern, reports of assassinations of human rights defenders in several countries. Some of them had provided information to the Commission in recent years. In general, disappearances and executions are preceded by the lack of adequate protection for human rights defenders who report having been victims of persecution and threats. The Commission notes that the lack of adequate protection for defenders who report having been victims of persecution, surveillance, and threats, entails a lack of defenselessness that fosters attacks on their lives. The victims of homicides and disappearances are generally those who are most prominent for their work reporting human rights abuses, or for their leadership. In killing them, the assailants seek to make an "example" of the victims, bring a halt to reporting on violations, getting the human rights organizations to leave certain zones, and bringing about a drop in the number of complaints presented. According to the information received by the Commission, it is also common for human rights defenders or their family members to be followed constantly wherever they go, or to kept under surveillance at their offices, residents, and elsewhere. There are many methods used to follow these persons. In many cases, these methods are practically imperceptible; in other cases they are detected easily, since that is the assailant's intent: for the victim to know that he or she is being watched, and that his or her movements, as well as all the persons with whom he or she meets, are known. The Inter-American Commission has received several complaints describing attacks on life and personal integrity, threats, surveillance and intimidation of defenders, as well as raids of and attacks on the offices of their organizations. The Commission has indicated that surveillance activities of human rights defenders give rise to state responsibility for flagrant violations of the right to privacy. Another worrisome aspect is the use of legal actions against defenders, including actions that are pursued to harass and discredit them. In some cases, the states use criminal laws that restrict or limit the means used by defenders to carry out their activities.. In other cases, criminal proceedings are instituted without any evidence, for the purpose of harassing the human rights defenders, who must assume the psychological and economic burden of facing a criminal indictment. Apart from the problems plaguing the judicial systems in the Americas, which keep them from operating soundly, the Commission observes that there is, especially in those countries from which a larger number of complaints come, a lack of political will, impartially, and independence when it comes to investigating attack on human rights defenders. The complaints that have been received suggest that there are serious problems in the investigations, for example, they do not relate the intimidation and threats directed against defenders to the type of work they do. The problem is also reflected in the attacks against judicial officers who seriously and effectively investigate and prosecute attacks suffered by human rights defenders.