OAS Participates in Seminar for Legislators of Central America and Dominican Republic

Legislators from Central America met in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, September 19-21 to discuss the role of the legislature in the fight against corruption.  The seminar provided a space for the exchange of ideas and the identification of legislative activities to promote a better understanding of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.

The seminar, entitled “The Legislature in the Fight against Corruption,” was organized by the Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Republic and cosponsored by the OAS General Secretariat and the Forum of Presidents of Legislative Powers of Central America and the Dominican Republic (FOPREL). The event was supported with a contribution from the United States.

For a copy of the agenda in Spanish click here.

UN Wishes to Identify “Possible Areas of Synergy” with Regional Anti-corruption Review Mechanisms

The United Nations working group tasked with making recommendations about appropriate review mechanisms for the UN anti-corruption convention met in Vienna August 29–31, 2007. In a background paper prepared for meeting, it was observed that “there is much to be learned from other monitoring or review mechanisms” and that the working group “may wish to make recommendations on possible areas of synergy” with these mechanisms. Among the relevant mechanisms mentioned in the paper were the OECD Working Group on Bribery, GRECO and the MESICIC .

For more information click here.

MESICIC Update

October 4, 2007 is the deadline for review subgroups to submit comments on the draft preliminary reports for Colombia, Panama, Chile, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas. To view the composition of the sub-groups, please click here.

MESICIC is in the midst of its Second Round of Review, which began in April of last year and is scheduled to be completed in December 2008.   At the conclusion of the Second Round, country reports will have been adopted for all 28 States Parties to the MESICIC.  Please visit our website for a full schedule of the Second Round, as well as copies of the country reports adopted to date.

Upcoming Anti-Corruption Events

Peru will host an international anti-corruption seminar, under the auspices of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), entitled “The Fight against Corruption is an International Responsibility: Strengthening Mechanisms for Cooperation in Asia-Pacific”. The seminar will take place in Lima in October 2007.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the government of Chile, in collaboration with the OAS, will host the “Global Forum on Integrity and Trust in Government” in January 2008 in Santiago, Chile.