OAS Approves Visits to States Parties to the MESICIC to Verify Progress in Fight against Corruption
WASHINGTON, DC – The Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS) today (Dec 10) approved in situ visits by the OAS to their countries to witness and evaluate first-hand the initiatives and measures with which the governments are implementing the standards of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.
The Third Meeting of the Conference of the States Parties to the Mechanism for Follow-up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC), held yesterday and today in Brasilia, also approved the elaboration of a set of indicators to assess the actual workings of the legal-institutional tools that the countries use to confront corruption; adopted a new methodology to consolidate the MESICIC as a forum for the exchange of information and reciprocal cooperation among the States; agreed to develop training activities in areas related to cooperation against corruption; recommended further discussion on the subject of social responsibility in the private sector to more effectively confront the problem of corruption; and sought to strengthen cooperation with other international organizations dedicated to prevent and fight corruption.
The Secretary for Legal Affairs of the hemispheric organization, Jean Michel Arrighi, made a “highly positive” evaluation of the meeting an asserted during the meeting’s closing ceremony that “we must congratulate everyone for the steps taken in this meeting to achieve effective cooperation in the common cause that is the defeat of corruption, and to move ahead with greater strength towards the liberation of our countries from this scourge, which is seriously affecting their economic and social development, and constitutes a very heavy load in overcoming situations of poverty and inequality that our peoples are so tired of living under.”
Secretary Arrighi highlighted that the visits in situ will allow the members of the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC to establish contact with the authorities responsible for moving this process forward and learning on the ground about the achievements obtained and difficulties faced. He also said the meeting “allowed us to establish a broad and constructive dialogue on the progress the States have made in the fight against corruption, the strengthening of the MESICIC, its financing, the participation of civil society in it, the follow-up to its recommendations, the practice of in situ visits, and the diffusion of its activities and results; as well as the strengthening of cooperation with other organizations and follow-up mechanisms, such as that of the UN, OECD, and of hemispheric cooperation in specific areas, such as the responsibility of the private sector and asset recovery.”
The OAS Secretary for Legal Affairs also highlighted the strategy adopted by the representatives who met in Brasilia to prevent the unnecessary duplication of efforts in initiatives based on the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. This new strategy will make it possible to harmonize the tasks assigned to the follow-up mechanisms of the two treaties. On international cooperation, the high-level official at the organization asserted that the ideas that came from this meeting “signal to us the road and every one of the concrete steps we must take to effectively move forward in the consolidation of inter-American and international cooperation to fight corruption with greater strength and efficiency.”
Afterwards, the Minister of State of the Office of the Comptroller General of Brazil, Jorge Hage Sobrinho, congratulated the delegations present for their achievements. The in situ visits, Minister Hage Sobrinho said, are “something essential and fundamental to the effective progress in the implementation of any convention, and the OAS Convention, as a pioneer, faces the challenge and the duty to consecrate these visits as perhaps its principal tool for follow-up work.”
The Brazilian minister also thanked the countries part of the MESICIC for their work in the two-day meeting in Brasilia. “Truly the important impact of the MESICIC in the fight against corruption was evident,” he concluded.
Through cooperation programs, the OAS has been supporting its Member States to improve their institutions and legal frameworks to prevent and fight corruption. For example, it offers a program to assist the States in developing plans of action to implement the recommendations made by the MESICIC and from which 18 States have already benefitted.
The MESICIC, which began to operate in 2002, is an intergovernmental body with broad opportunities of participation for civil society, established within the framework of the OAS to provide support in the implementation of the measures of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. It is organized by the Department for Legal Cooperation of the OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs, and also serves as a forum for the exchange of information and reciprocal cooperation among the countries that are part of it.
