ARGENTINA Country Profile

Private Anti-Corruption Initiatives

  • Media: The independence of the media is protected by law and the myriad of newspapers, radio stations and television channels in Argentina are generally able to operate freely. In 2008 a rulling by the Supreme Court asserted the press's right to criticise government officials. Notwithstanding that, Freedom House 2009 reports that independent journalists are still verbally mistreated by officials and funds for state advertising are used to reward media considered friendly towards the government. This has led to self-censorship among journalists, and media owners have been pressured into removing critical reporters that could affect their economic interests. According to Global Integrity 2008, journalists and editors sometimes 'sell' their coverage in exchange for favours, gifts or money.Corruption can be a dangerous issue for journalists to report about. One such example is of radio and newspaper journalist Juan Parada, who is now under police protection after he received several death threats for exposing corruption involving local court, police and municipal officials in the Neuquén province in May 2008. Argentina ranks 68th out of 173 countries on the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index 2008, while Freedom House 2008 ranks the country 100th out of 195 countries in relation to press freedom and describes the press environment as 'partly free'.

  • Civil Society: The Bertelsmann Foundation 2008 reports that Argentina has a moderate tradition of civil society, but characterises civil society in the country as broadly organised and highly differentiated. According to Freedom House 2009, the rights to freedom of assembly and association are generally respected in Argentina and civil society organisations are strong and play a significant role in society, although some fall victim to the corruption that continues to pervade Argentina's politics and economy. Global Integrity 2008 reports that despite the fact that anti-corruption and good governance organisations operate freely, their relevance in the policy-making process has diminished, although they have received a greater degree of recognition in public opinion and attention from the media.

  • Poder Ciudadano (in Spanish): As the Argentinean chapter of Transparency International, Poder Ciudadano has undertaken studies of vulnerabilities in public procurement and is currently working on a sector-specific study of corruption as experienced by small and medium-sized companies. As a result of a 'Transparency Agreement', Poder Ciudadano has been monitoring the bidding process for the local waste collection services contract in one municipality in 2008 with positive impact in terms of increased transparency and citizen participation (read more about the 'Transparency Agreement'). Poder Ciudadano has successfully influenced public opinion on the issue of corruption, but some of its critical publications have also led to criticism from the government. The organisation has supported the first 'Business Sector Agreement' in Argentina signed by nine water-pipe manufacturers, who have agreed to refrain from engaging in corruption and bribery - a kind of Integrity Pact. Poder Ciudadano has a whistleblower mechanism on its website and maintains a list of institutions that receive complaints about corruption (in Spanish).

  • Centro de Investigación y Prevención de la Criminalidad Económica (CIPCE, in Spanish) is an independent organisation dedicated to developing policies to prevent economic crimes. The agency investigates white collar crimes and has been involved in the exposure of a large scale corruption scandal related to the expansion of a natural gas pipeline in northern Argentina.