The aim of Transparency International Latvia (Sabiedrība par atklātību – Delna; Delna) is to create an open, fair and democratic society that is free from corruption in public administration, politics, business and in human relations. In 2022, the organization accomplished the tasks defined in the statutes to achieve the goal, focusing especially on identifying and mitigating the risks of corruption, monitoring and analyzing the activities of the Saeima (the Parliament). Delna participated in the drafting of laws and submitted its proposals for the Law on Transparency of Interest Representation, the new Whistleblowing Law and the Law on Local Governments. Followed and commented on the progress of harmonizing the anti-corruption action plan 2021-2025 of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau and presented its proposals, brought up the topic of whistle-blowing and provided support to whistle-blowers, as well as drew attention to promoting transparency in the private sector and anti-corruption policies and internal systems of the private sector.

The most important achievements of the organization in 2022 and development perspectives in 2023.

Delna successfully continued to execute activities and the tasks defined in the statutes. The most important works and achievements of Delna:

• We published the results of the annual Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021 in Latvia together with analysis and recommendations for decision makers. We drew the attention of decision-makers to the fact that Latvia’s result of 59 points (+2 points compared to the result of 2020) does not create confidence that the National Development Plan 2021-2027 the goal set for 2024 – to reach 64 points and in 2027 – 67 points, will be achieved. In order to improve Latvia’s performance, it is necessary to stop delaying improvements in areas such as prevention of wastage of public resources, promotion of political and business integrity, and the private sector must also be given its share in the fight against corruption.
• Supervision of the dismantling process of the occupation monument in Riga. Delna got involved in the work of monitoring the dismantling process of the Victory Park monument to the soldiers of the Soviet Army, in order to promote compliance with the principles of good governance, prevention of corruption and conflict of interest, and honesty in the cooperation and work of the client, contractor and other involved parties.
• Supervision of the dismantling of the occupation monument in Daugavpils. We drew attention to a possible dishonest act in the activities of the Daugavpils city municipality, organizing the dismantling of the occupation monument, and sent three letters to the city council with a request to explain how the municipality organized a procurement and price survey for the dismantling of objects glorifying the Soviet and Nazi regime.
• Work on the development of the Law on Transparency of Interest Representation. We supported the 13th Saeima in the working group for drafting the law, provided opinions and proposals during the drafting of the law, explained to the public the benefits that the law would bring to our democracy.
• We supported whistleblowers. We submitted proposals to the Saeima State Administration and Local Government Commission in the development of the new Whistleblower Law, supported whistleblowers at the Delna Whistleblower Center, continued to maintain the website dedicated to whistleblowers www.celtrauksmi.lv and created a series of educational materials and opinion pieces.
• We are analyzing what the 13th Saeima has done in reducing corruption, promoting openness and good governance – have the deputies taken into account the 39 recommendations in 10 areas developed jointly by Delna and the Providus think tank and submitted to the Saeima on January 29, 2019. The analysis can be viewed here. We participated in the conversation festival LAMPA with the discussion “What kind of mess did the 13th Saeima create?“
• We participated in the selection commissions of applicants for the position of members of the council of 12 state-founded universities. From October 2021 to February 2022, Delna representatives participated in the selection commissions as observers without voting rights, and we published a report on what was observed and recommendations for improving the process. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the report here ->
• We held online trainings “Youth Delna”. We invited young people between the ages of 16 and 20 to think about what democracy and the rule of law are, what influence corruption has on the growth opportunities of every young person. At the end of the training, together with the most motivated training participants, we went to Latvian schools to tell young people about democracy as a value and the possibilities of civic participation. Read more ->.
• We organized a drawing competition “I see” for school youth. We invited young people to choose one of the sub-themes of the drawing contest “Me and honesty”, “Me and responsibility”, “Me and courage” or “Me and respect” and to depict in their drawings how the chosen value manifests itself in the actions and attitudes of the people around them and towards each other. At the end of the competition, we received 133 works from 24 Latvian schools and one family and exhibited the received works in the Small Gilde (Riga), Ministry of Education and Science, Riga City Council and Daugavpils City Council. Read more ->.
• We followed the management of the conflict of interest. We followed the amendments to the law “On the prevention of conflict of interest in the activities of public officials” and proactively reacted to the prevention of attempts to conceal the declarations of high-level officials (members of the councils of higher education institutions and members of the councils of state capital companies). We draw attention to the shortcomings of conflict of interest management by participating in the development of the new Law on Local Governments and encouraging members of the 13th Saeima to separate the executive power from the decision-making power at the local government level.
• We published the second evaluation of the impact of measures taken by the government on openness during the Covid-19 pandemic. The evaluation is a continuation of the report published in June 2021 and the attention of the Saeima’s parliamentary investigation commission is also devoted to investigate the erroneous actions of the Latvian government in the process of overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to name the political officials who have caused irreversibly negative consequences in the management of the crisis for the purpose of analyzing the action.
• We organized a seminar and practical training cycle “How to vote properly?”. Before the 14th Saeima elections, we presented online the principles to be taken into account when going to vote, how to choose the electoral list and candidates, what the “+” and “-” marks mean, and we also recommended which reliable sources to look for answers to unclear questions.
• We followed the progress of the coordination of the KNAB anti-corruption measures plan 2021-2025 and presented our proposals.
• We draw attention to non-compliance with the law in the preparation of the draft state budget and practices inconsistent with the principles of good governance.
• We published a re-evaluation of the “Transparency Index of Local Authorities 2022“ on the level of openness on the websites of Latvian municipalities one year after the administrative-territorial reform. The evaluation is a continuation of Delna’s work on promoting the openness and responsibility of municipalities and the pilot study “Municipal Transparency Index” conducted in 2021.
• We collected the practice of regulating virtual currencies. At public events and discussions, we drew attention to the use of virtual assets to circumvent sanctions.
• We organized the event “Corruption – a threat to national and global security”. On the International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, we invited US anti-corruption expert Sara Chayes to give a lecture, together with KNAB we held a public discussion where we discussed the negative impact of corruption on Latvia’s internal and external security with state officials, field representatives and experts and called for a decision adopters to treat it seriously.
• We followed the development of amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Parties, not allowing unjustified and hastily applied easing of conditions for state funding spending limits.

In 2023, Delna will continue to work on attracting new projects in order to achieve the organization’s goals and implement tasks. Main expected activities:

• Strengthening the operation of the Whistleblowing Center – counseling whistleblowers, updating the whistleblower manual, taking into account the improvements in the new Whistleblowing Act. Research on the whistle-blowing system in companies and institutions in regions (outside of Riga), informational campaigns and articles about the citizen’s possibilities to raise the alarm and whistle-blowing channels.
• Introducing the scope and norms of the Interest Representation Law. Introducing the duties and responsibilities of interest representatives (lobbyists) and representatives of public authorities. Development of the code of ethics for interest representatives and educational work on the scope of the law in order to promote the fact that interest representatives understand the norms of the law and comply with them more successfully. Development of interest representation manual and other informative materials.
• Regular preparation and distribution of Delna’s newsletters, including special newsletters on anti-corruption, good governance, civic engagement research and industry statistics.
• Promotion of business openness – promotion of the anti-corruption and openness principles of companies and the involvement of companies in the work of the Delna initiative “Zero tolerance for corruption”.
• Encouraging youth civic engagement, educating young people and promoting their awareness of anti-corruption and good governance topics. Training of young people for successful monitoring of municipal operations.
• Supplementing the “Deputies on Delnas” website with new data from various platforms, including data on the allocation of public resources, as well as developing tools for identifying conflicts of interest, undue influence and criminal money flows.
• Analysis of the 14^th Saeima’s work in the field of anti-corruption and good governance. In 2022, Delna developed the 14^th tasks to be done by the Saeima, to make sure that the members of the Saeima follow the list of tasks to be done, we will follow the progress of their implementation.
• Regular representation of interests in the Saeima as necessary. Following the work agendas of the Saeima commissions (especially the Defense, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Commission, the Legal Commission and the State Administration and Local Government Commission), engaging in their work as necessary (providing proposals, opinions) and, if necessary, attracting other NGOs, including from the regions of Latvia.
• Facilitating amendments to the Saeima’s order roll. Evaluating proposals for amendments to the Saeima’s Rules of Procedure, reviewing their relevance and performing interest representation work to convince decision makers to support the amendments to the Saeima’s Rules of Procedure.
• Strengthening the internal democracy of political parties. Analyzing decision-making practices in political parties, developing recommendations for parties (leaders and members) on how to promote internal party democracy and a party member’s handbook.
• Updating the codes of ethics of local government deputies. Research on the (non) existence of local government codes of ethics and local governments’ understanding of the nature of this document, by looking at all 43 local governments as possible (homepages and/or conducting a survey of local governments). Publishing the message on Delna’s website and social networks.
• Development of the Municipal Transparency Index 2023. Repeated evaluation of the transparency of municipalities by reviewing the websites of municipalities and assessing the amount of information published.

Read more about Delna’s accomplished and concluded projects here ->.

Delna contacts: Inese Tauriņa, director, inese.taurina@delna.lv, +371 67285585

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