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E-117 OAS
URGES MEMBERS TO SIGN AND RATIFY ANTI-CORRUPTION TREATY The
Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States
(OAS), Ambassador Christopher R. Thomas, has renewed the call for the
Organization's member countries to sign and ratify the Inter-American
Convention against Corruption as soon as possible. Of the OAS' 34 member
states, eight have yet to sign and fifteen are yet to ratify the
hemispheric treaty. Addressing
the Caribbean Ministerial on Regional Law Enforcement, in Trinidad and
Tobago June 12 and 13, Ambassador Thomas referred to the follow up work
of the OAS in implementing the Convention.
He specifically cited the Inter-American Program of Cooperation
in the Fight against Corruption and the Symposium on Probity and Ethics
in the Hemisphere as the main OAS follow up instruments. U.S.
Attorney General Janet Reno was among the top-level legal officials from
the Caribbean, the United States, United Kingdom and the Netherlands
attending the meeting that dealt with various aspects of law enforcement
in the Caribbean, including information-sharing, assets forfeiture and
money laundering, deportation and mutual cooperation. Director
of the Department of OAS Legal Cooperation and Information, Jorge Garc�a
Gonz�lez, updated
the participants on the progress in implementing the Convention. He also
referred to the information workshops and studies of the criminal law in
the various countries of the region, part of a Program of Cooperation
undertaken by the OAS and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Garc�a
Gonz�lez also proposed a Plan of Action for the Caribbean, aimed at
helping those countries implementing the Convention within their
respective legislative frameworks. He also invited countries that are
not members of the OAS, particularly those with permanent observer
status, to sign and ratify the Convention. **********
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