On the occasion the of the 10 year anniversary since the introduction of the 10th United Nations (U.N.) Global Compact Principle against corruption and of the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, the organisation Global Compact Network Hellas is holding an event on “Human Rights and the Fight Against Corruption” in Thessaloniki on December 5.

The event echoes the efforts of the U.N. to enforce a more systematic and substantive fight against corruption, directly linked with the protection of human rights, as stated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The programme includes the presentation of a report on Human Trafficking and of two new tools, which have been created to support the implementation of the U.N. Global Compact ten principles: first, the "The fight against corruption" e-tool, and second, a new training tool for better understanding of the principles concerning the protection of human rights.

The event is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Office of the National Rapporteur for Combating Human Trafficking), in cooperation with Transparency International Greece and the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce.

Greece improved its score for its efforts to combat corruption, according to the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index that was announced yesterday by Transparency International. Greece ranks 69th out of 175 countries, up from 80th place in 2013. The Corruption Perceptions Index is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption. Countries’ scores can be helped by open government where the public can hold leaders accountable, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs.