TI-NZ mourns the passing of Jeremy Pope, New Zealand humanist, author, co-founder of Transparency International and Human Rights Commissioner

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Transparency International New Zealand

Wellington New Zealand

29 August, 2012

Jeremy Pope, ONZM (1938-2012) was the co-founder of Transparency International in 1993 which has since grown to have over 90 Chapters. He founded Tiri in 2003. Tiri is a Maori word which means lifting the taboos for the protection of society.

At Transparency International (TI), Pope co-created the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which identified best and worst practices related to corruption and ranked countries accordingly. He wrote the international organization's "manual" on preventing corruption entitled Confronting Corruption: The Elements of a National Integrity System, which was translated into more than 20 different languages.

A barrister in New Zealand and England, Pope worked for 17 years as legal counsel and then director of the Commonwealth Secretariat's Legal Division. He was secretary to the Commonwealth Observer Group that oversaw Zimbabwe's independence elections in 1980 and was a member of the Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons that visited South Africa in 1986 and triggered the release of Nelson Mandela.

Pope wrote guide books about New Zealand in the early 1970s and 1980s with his wife, Diana. During the 1970s he was active with the "Save Manapouri" environmental movement in New Zealand. He was for many years editor of the New Zealand Law Journal and the Commonwealth Law Bulletin.

When Pope moved to London in the 1970s, he kept close touch with New Zealand events, advising on international solutions including in relation to the South African Rugby Tour. In 1982 he became the founding trustee of Interights, which is an international human rights NGO.

In 2007, Jeremy was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for "services to international affairs." He served as a Commissioner on the New Zealand Human Rights Commission (Te Kāhui Tika Tangata) from 31 January 2008 until his death.

"Jeremy was one of the very small group of people who founded the international movement, TI. For many years he supplied the intellectual strength to back up the consciousness-raising which was the main activity in the early days" notes Suzanne Snively, the Executive Chair of Transparency International New Zealand. "He was the one with the knowledge of our national institutions, how they should work, and what happened when they didn't. All through he remained a person of total integrity."

"As one of those who learned much from this important world leader, I was fortunate to receive his wise advice about the pillars of the national integrity system. My fellow Directors and Members will greatly miss Jeremy's wise counsel and good humour."

Jeremy is survived by his wife Diana, his children Adam, Jemima and Samuel and his grandchildren Jessica and Miki.

The funeral will be held at 11am on Monday, 3 September at Old St Pauls, Wellington, New Zealand.

We express our heartfelt sympathy to Diana and Jeremy's family.

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