Transparency International -- Oct.3, 2007 -- The 2007 CPI shows that corruption remains a serious challenge in the 32 countries it includes from the Americas, though some progress is being made. Costa Rica, among other countries, reflects significant improvement in its 2007 score. Uruguay and Canada, among others, have maintained a relatively high score in past years. Belize, on the other hand, is one country with an increase on how widespread corruption is perceived to be. Nonetheless, good performance cannot be taken for granted and further action is needed to remedy remaining corruption risks and to ensure that previous anti-corruption efforts are sustainable.

In the Americas, the anti-corruption fight remains far from being victorious. A third of the countries scored below three, indicating that corruption is perceived as rampant. Slightly more than two-fifths scored between 3 and
5 indicating that the levels of corruption among public officials and politicians are perceived to be serious by country experts and businesspeople.

Only 8 out of the 32 countries are above the middle range score of 5. This is alarming considering the obvious links between corruption and the high levels of poverty, inequality and violence in the region. For more than a decade, the region has had a comprehensive anti-corruption framework in place, the Inter-American Convention against Corruption a legal instrument that provides a framework for fighting corruption and is ratified by 33 countries. This tool is now reinforced by the United Nations Convention against Corruption. It is high time that countries move towards effective implementation of these provisions in the hemisphere.

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Source: http://www.transparency.org