HONDURAS RECEIVES ON-SITE VISIT OF THE OAS ANTICORRUPTION MECHANISM (MESICIC)

From October 2-4, 2012, Honduras received, with its consent, a visit by a team from the OAS Anticorruption Mechanism (Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption – MESICIC), as part of the review process of said Mechanism, carried out in accordance with the Methodology adopted by consensus by its Member States.  

The team was composed of Maria Soledad Machuca Vidal, Director of the Transparency Unit of the Public Ministry of the Republic of Paraguay, and by Hernaldo Jose Chamorro, Coordinator of Anticorruption Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Nicaragua, who represent their respective countries before the Mechanism and who were also supported by the General Secretariat of the OAS in the visit.  

During the three days of work, the members of the team met, among others, with representatives of the Supreme Court of Accounts (Tribunal Superior de Cuentas), the Public Ministry, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Judiciary Branch, the National Commission of Banks and Securities, the National Office of Integral Development of Internal Control, and the Institute of Access to Public information, 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 Honduras the opportunity to benefit from or to request technical assistance.   

The team also had the opportunity to meet with civil society organizations, private sector organizations, professional associations, academics and researchers, to address issues useful for the purposes of the visit, such as, among others, oversight bodies, civil society participation, Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information, as well as the investigation and criminal prosecution of acts of corruption in Honduras.

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 Honduras country report by the Committee at its next plenary meeting to be held in March 2013, in Washington DC at OAS Headquarters.  

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.