MANILA, Philippines — The global financial crisis and the 2010 elections are likely to worsen corruption in the country, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director Renaud Meyer said at an international conference here Tuesday.

"These are challenging times for all of us in our fight against corruption especially in the next two years. For one, we are in the midst of an impending international economic crisis, which is affecting both developed and developing economies. Second, 2010 is
election period in the Philippines," Meyer said at the First Integrity and Human Rights Conference.

"We foresee that these economic and political scenarios happening in the next two years will likely increase incidences of corruption to mitigate impacts of the economic crisis and to get enough funding or political support in the upcoming elections," he said.

Meyer and Alistair MacDonald, European Union ambassador to the Philippines, both pointed to links between corruption and human rights.

Meyer said corruption "is a primary obstacle in the effective delivery of public services and fulfillment of basic rights."

"Corruption ... can be especially brutal to the poor, who have no resources to compete with those willing to pay bribes,” he added. “Corruption denies the poor their fair share, and reinforces the gender and social gaps, because corrupt payments are made in exchange for breaking rules of fairness in employment, justice, and procurement."

MacDonald said: "Freedom from the disastrous effects of corruption is as much a human right as is the freedom from fear or the freedom from hunger — and indeed corruption helps to promote hunger, and fear, and is a direct assault on human rights more generally."

MacDonald, Meyer and several other participants in the forum called on governments to punish corruption.

"Corruption must be recognized as a risk, a threat, and a crime,” MacDonald said. “The
State must have the will to address this risk, face the threat, and punish the crime. [And] the legislation must be implemented — and implemented without excessive and dispiriting delays."

Meyer said criminality and social unrest would escalate if the corrupt went unpunished.