Global Conference of Parliamentarians Against Corruption

The GOPAC Global Conference of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (Global Conference) is a premier event in the anti-corruption calendar. It brings together current and former legislators, government officials, academics, and anti-corruption advocates from around the world. The Global Conference has become a leading venue to discuss key issuesand set priorities for both the organisation and the global fight against corruption.

The program for the multi-day event includes plenaries as well as smaller sessions comprised of presentations from panelists and open discussions with the audience. Sessions cover prominent topics that allow us to fight corruption and promote good governance and the rule of law including: the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, anti-money laundering, parliamentary oversight, parliamentary ethics, and grand corruption.

Past conferences have set the agenda for GOPAC and our work.

• At the inaugural Global Conference in Canada in 2002, we officially launched GOPAC as an institution, approved a constitution and developed an improved global understanding of the nature of corruption and parliamentarians’ role in fighting it.
• Tanzania played host to the second Global Conference in 2006 where delegates helped to develop a focused plan of action for the organisation and its chapters.
• In 2008 we gathered in Kuwait for the third Global Conference and we committedto the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and its implementation.
• The fourth Global Conference took place in Mexico in 2011. It resulted in a declaration in which participants recognized the need for greater citizen participation, transparency and accountability to prevent and counter corruption.

Delegates at the fifth Global Conference in the Philippines resolved to seek the adoption of global legal instruments to enable the international community to pursue and prosecute the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of corruption. They called for the promotion of the UNCAC, enforceable codes of ethics and conduct over parliamentarians themselves, and broader participation from all segments of society in the fight against corruption.