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OAS Anticorruption Mechanism Held "In Situ" Visit to Ecuador

A Commission of the Anti-Corruption Mechanism of the Organization of American States (OAS) held an “on site” visit from October 1 to 3 to Ecuador, as part of the analysis that the mechanism carries out in accordance with the methodology adopted by consensus among its member countries.

The Commission of the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) was made up of the Comptroller General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Adelina Gonzalez; the Analyst of the Office of the aforementioned Comptroller General of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Basilio Jáuregui; as well as the Government Auditor General of Chile, Jorge Vio Niemeyer, who represent their countries before the Mechanism. They were supported by the OAS in the visit, through its Department of Legal Cooperation in its capacity as the Technical Secretariat to the MESICIC.

During the three days of work, the Commission met with representatives of the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Oversight, the Office of the Attorney General, the Judicial Council and other judicial bodies, and the Office of the Comptroller General. The Commission also met with the Ministry for Labor Relations; representatives of the National General Assembly, the Sub-secretariat for Management Transparency, and the Office of the Ombudsman, in order to obtain objective and complete information and reveal potential difficulties in the implementation of the Inter-American Convention. It also provided an opportunity to facilitate the obtaining of information related to best practices, and provided Ecuador the opportunity to benefit from or to request technical assistance.

The Commission also had the opportunity to meet with organizations from civil society and the private sector, professional associations, academics and researchers, in order to address issues with legal issues on access to information, civil society participation mechanisms in the public administration, and reforms in the judicial system.
The results of this visit forms part of the review process that is currently being carried out by the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC, and which will conclude with the adoption of the Ecuador country report by the Committee at its next plenary meeting to be held in March 2014, at the headquarters of the OAS in Washington, DC.

The MESICIC is a cooperation mechanism between States, with the participation of civil society organizations, established within the framework of the OAS, in which the legal/institutional framework of each country is reviewed for suitability with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption as well as the objective results achieved therein. The incorporation of on-site visits as a stage and integral part of the MESICIC review process represents an innovative and pioneering initiative in the context of the OAS, especially for a peer review mechanism and the importance of the issues it addresses.

For more information on the MESICIC, please visit the Anti-Corruption Portal of the Americas.

Reference: E-378/13