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

From April 8 - 10, 2013, Uruguay received, with its consent, a visit by a team of 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 Ms. Annette Mark, Legal Counsel of the Office of National Drug and Money Laundering Control Policy of Antigua and Barbuda and Mr. Nestor Baragli, Deputy Director for Transparency Policy Planning of the Anti-Corruption Office of Argentina, 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 Commission met with representatives of the Transparency and Public Ethics Board, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Court of Accounts, the Office of the Attorney General and Prosecutor, the National Directorate of Customs, as well as a representative of the Legislative Branch, in order to obtain objective and complete information and reveal potential difficulties in the implementation of the Inter-American Convention.   

The team also had the opportunity to meet with organizations from civil society and the private sector, as well as academics, in order to address issues related to the investigation, prosecution, and punishment of acts of corruption in Uruguay as well as civil society’s views on the role of oversight bodies in that country.  

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 Uruguay country report by the Committee at its next plenary meeting to be held in September 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.

For more information, please visit the Anti-corruption Portal of the Americas.