REAL LIVES.TRUE STORIES. AT A GLANCE
Around the World
2003.
We open our first advocacy and legal advice centres.
90 centres
are now open in 60 countries worldwide.
25,000 people
contacted us for help in 2012.
140,000+ people have contacted our centres to date.
In Brief: Speaking Up around the World Offering free and confidential legal advice to witnesses and victims of corruption, our advocacy and legal advice centres help citizens break their silence on corruption. They’re also sparking wider change – harnessing this real-life data on corruption hotspots, we engage in strategic advocacy to bring about systemic improvements. AZERBAIJAN Our centres don’t stop work when a case is resolved. Analysing the types of complaints received, we offer targeted recommendations to governments on areas that require increased transparency. In Azerbaijan, 72 government actions were triggered by such recommendations in 2011-2012 alone – among them new instruments to put court hearings online, electronic payment tools for utility bills, and video recordings of civil servant recruitment interviews.
E L S A LVA D O R Using public information requests, we helped expose the illegal use of public funds to purchase Christmas gifts for politicians. Announcing that such purchases will be stopped, Congress has suspended those involved pending investigations, and the Supreme Court is investigating whether initial rejections of information requests were in violation of the constitution.
MALDIVES
Spotlight on Rwanda
2,797 people
contacted the centre in 2012. GENDER
In a country of just 350,000 people, the Maldives is home to 150,000 migrant workers. In this large, often undocumented community, where understanding of rights can be minimal, there are many opportunities for abuse and exploitation. We have offered free legal support to more than 3,000 workers, helping them speak out about withheld passports, missing wages and inhuman living conditions.
Female Male
AGE 17-24 25-39 40-54 55+
P R O B L E M H OT S P OT S Judges Land and Property Reaching out to marginalised communities at an awareness-raising event for our advice centre in the Maldives. © Transparency Maldives
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Our legal advice centre in El Salvador talk to the press about legal protection after helping expose the illegal use of public funds to purchase Christmas gifts for politicians. © Funde