Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice Launches Anti-Corruption Initiative for Latin America

The Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice’s Lawyers Council for Civil and Economic Rights in the Americas announced the launch of an “Anti-Corruption Initiative for Latin America” at its recent meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The initiative will organize private-practice attorneys across the Americas to support and complement governmental and civil society efforts to prevent and combat corruption.

The Lawyers Council for Civil and Economic Rights in the Americas (the “Council”), established and coordinated by the Vance Center of the New York City Bar Association, consists of 18 lawyers from the United States and 13 Latin American countries with experience as leaders of bar associations, board members of non-governmental organizations, and/or as pro bono practitioners, who design and implement multilateral, region-wide initiatives to address challenges to civil and economic rights in Latin America.

The Council has begun its initiative by analyzing existing anti-corruption laws and prevention and enforcement mechanisms in selected jurisdictions. This analysis will lead to a guide of best practices and recommendations to government, the legal profession, and the corporate sector in these jurisdictions, regarding the legal framework, professional ethical guidelines and corporate practices needed to combat corruption effectively. The Council also will conduct surveys to monitor its initiatives in the different sectors and issue progress reports.

“Corruption is a singular challenge to democratic governance in Latin America,” said Adriana Ospina, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Vance Center. “Implementing the Council’s anti-corruption initiative comes at a crucial time in the region, when several countries have elected new governments avowing commitment to fighting corruption and restoring confidence in legal institutions.”  

To strengthen its initiatives across the region, the Council will organize a series of anti-corruption conferences, bringing together leading anti-corruption judges and prosecutors, and other legal experts. The conferences will also serve as a platform to broaden public awareness of the political, economic, social and environmental effects of corruption.

The Council was conceived at the Vance Center’s “2015 Legal Summit of the Americas: The Lawyer and Democracy.” A subcommittee of the Council was formed last October to develop the anti-corruption strategy.  It has received generous financial support from the Ford Foundation and the Tinker Foundation.

Council members are: Carolina Zang (Zang, Bergel & Vines Abogados) and  Jose A. Martinez de Hoz (Jr.) (Perez Alati, Grondona, Benites Arntsen & Martinez de Hoz) – Argentina; Luciana Tornovsky (Demarest Advogados) and Roberto Quiroga (Mattos Filho) – Brazil; Pablo Guerrero (Barros & Errazuriz) – Chile; Paula Samper (Gomez-Pinzon Zuleta Abogados) – Colombia; Vivian Liberman (BLP) – Costa Rica; Mary Fernandez (Headrick Rizik Alvarez & Fernández) – Dominican Republic; Hernan Perez Loose (Coronel & Perez Abogados) – Ecuador; Alfonso Carrillo (Carrillo & Asociados) – Guatemala; Carlos Del Rio (Creel, Garcia-Cuellar, Aiza & Enriquez) and Valeria Chapa (Honeywell International) – Mexico; Ramon Ricardo Arias (Galindo, Arias & Lopez) – Panama; Alberto Rebaza (Rebaza, Alcazar & De Las Casas) – Peru; Antonia Stolper (Shearman & Sterling) and Todd Crider (Simpson Thacher & Bartlett) – Unites States; Marcela Hughes (Hughes & Hughes) – Uruguay; Fernando Pelaez-Pier (Hoet Pelaez Castillo & Duque) – Venezuela.

About the Vance Center
The Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice of the New York City Bar Association advances global justice by engaging lawyers across borders to support civil society and an ethically active legal profession. The Vance Center is a unique collaboration of international lawyers catalyzing public interest innovation that brings together leading law firms and other partners worldwide to pioneer international justice initiatives and provide pro bono legal representation to social justice NGOs.

About the Association
The New York City Bar Association (www.nycbar.org), since its founding in 1870, has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the profession, promoting reform of the law and providing service to the profession and the public.  The Association continues to work for political, legal and social reform, while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged.  Protecting the public’s welfare remains one of the Association’s highest priorities.