by Sir Anand Satyanand
The 21st International Anti-Corruption Conference was held over four days in June 2024 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The conference was attended by 2000 delegates from roughly 140 countries.
I was actively involved with the conference in my capacity as the Vice-Chair of the International Anti-Corruption Conference. Transparency International New Zealand was represented by its Chair, the Hon Anne Tolley and by CEO Julie Haggie.
The IACC Conference is generally held every 2 years, in many settings – for example Athens, Washington DC, Seoul Korea, Copenhagen Denmark, and Kuala Lumpur Malaysia have hosted. This year, Vilnius was chosen to host the conference based on the country’s strong and consistent adherence to transparency, including an impressive adoption of e-government for many services. Our Lithuanian hosts brought considerable vigour and passion to the conference and its programme.
Following the hallmark of previous TI and IACC conferences, there was no downtime sought or provided between the eight thematic tracks delivered over four days.
The conference attracted outstanding defenders of ethical behaviour and governance, with the two stand-out personalities, in my view, being Sanjay Pradhan of the Open Government Partnership and Mary Lowry, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders.
On each day, smaller focused workshops addressed precise topics such as Corruption Measurement and Civil Forfeiture Remedies, which enabled active participation by delegates. A new initiative for 2024 was that of the Masterclass, one such being on Whistleblowers, with two people who had been notorious whistleblowers in commercial and trade settings describing their actions and the impact on their professional and personal lives
The Conference was described at its end by TI Chair, Francois Valérian and IACC Chair Rueben Lifuka as a “best ever” for its content, attendance, and spirit.
Sir Anand Satyanand
Anand Satyanand is a New Zealander with family links to the Pacific and India. He is currently serving as Vice-Chair of the International Anti-Corruption Conference. He comes to the IACC after an association with the New Zealand chapter of Transparency International, as a Director and then Patron for three years. He has a long record of contribution to public life and served as the country’s 19th Governor-General between 2006 and 2011.
