Ottawa, Canada – Legislators from across party lines gathered to launch GOPAC Brazil, the Brazilian national chapter of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), at the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, 18 June 2013, following a night of country-wide protests.

“Citizens from around the world are calling for honesty and integrity from their representatives, and our goal is to ensure that legislators have the tools and knowledge to meet this demand,” says Ricardo Garcia Cervantes, Vice-Chair of GOPAC and chair of GOPAC Latin America. “We commend the Brazilian legislators for taking this step to fight corruption and promote good governance and are committed to helping them succeed.”

The new GOPAC members also participated in a workshop on the United Nations Convention Against Corruption to better equip them as they call their government to account and ensure they implement the requirements of the convention.

The decision to start a GOPAC chapter in Brazil was conceived in the margins of the International Anti-Corruption Conference held in Brasilia in November 2012. On the opening day of the conference, Mr Garcia Cervantes appealed to members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate of Brazil to join the global anti-corruption battle and form a GOPAC national chapter. GOPAC has been working with dedicated legislators in Brazil since then to formalize their membership in the organization.

GOPAC is a worldwide alliance of parliamentarians working together to combat corruption, strengthen good government, and uphold the rule of law. Based in Ottawa, Canada, GOPAC has 54 national chapters on 6 continents. GOPAC supports its members’ efforts through original research, global anti-corruption capacity building, and international peer support. Visit GOPAC on the web at gopacnetwork.org, on Twitter at twitter.com/GOPAC_Eng, and on Facebook at facebook.com/gopacnetwork.