LYON, France – In a recent meeting in Vienna, INTERPOL reaffirmed to Austrian authorities its support for the creation in Laxenburg of the International Anti-Corruption Academy, which will be an international focal point for anti-corruption research, degree-based learning and the development of policies and procedures to prevent and to combat corruption.
Austria and INTERPOL discussed Austria’s plans to host a founders' conference in September and to open the Academy before the end of 2010. Austria invited INTERPOL’s Secretary General, Ronald K. Noble, to actively participate in the founders’ conference, and Mr. Noble agreed to do so.
INTERPOL and Austria agreed that INTERPOL will offer its law enforcement expertise to help define the Academy’s curriculum and to provide course work support regarding law enforcement’s role in anti-corruption training.
INTERPOL further agreed to work co-operatively with the Academy, linking the training done in Austria to its worldwide contacts in law enforcement and among international institutions, universities and police academies.
“Effectively combating the crime of corruption requires the international community to work together to increase its anti-corruption activities,” said Ambassador Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Austria’s Director-General for Legal and Consular Affairs.
”Austria is therefore pleased to draw on the experience of international law enforcement and in particular to receive INTERPOL’s support for the Academy, which by promoting academic excellence and international partnerships will contribute to international initiatives against corruption, professionalize anti-corruption work and set global standards,” added Ambassador Tichy-Fisslberger.
To demonstrate its support for the project, INTERPOL also pledged USD 250,000 towards the activities of the new anti-corruption body from a donation INTERPOL received from the Motorola Foundation, the first company globally to support such an initiative.
“Corruption undermines the rule of law, and therefore the availability of justice. In short, it attacks everything that law enforcement works to accomplish. It impoverishes whole communities, and threatens the safety and security of the many for the benefit of a very few,” said Mr Noble.
“Terrorists and organized criminals could not carry out their illegal activities without the complicity of corrupt public officials. Corruption threatens security and damages civic trust in the institutions that affect people’s daily lives.”
“INTERPOL has embraced the fight against corruption in its own programmes, and it is committed to co-operate in the development of the International Anti-Corruption Academy as an innovative and far-reaching step forward in the effort to make the world safer, and we also welcome Motorola’s significant contribution towards these efforts,” concluded the head of INTERPOL.
“We are proud to support INTERPOL’s anti-corruption mission. As part of our commitment to the global communities where we live and work, we salute their innovative approach to fight corruption,” said Karen Tandy, senior vice president, public affairs and communications, Motorola Inc.
Following the meeting between INTERPOL and Austria, and reflecting upon INTERPOL's long-established support for initiatives to curb corruption among its 188 member countries – it hosted the First International Conference on Corruption-Related Crimes in 1998 and conceived of the Academy in 2005 – Mr. Noble said that the Academy promised to be “an important component that will support anti-corruption activities worldwide”. As a centre of excellence, the Academy will be designed to promote effective training in all aspects of anti-corruption practices to all sectors.