AMERICAN STATES MAKE PROGRESS WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF OAS ANTICORRUPTION CONVENTION

 The recently published Second Progress Report on the implementation of the Convention, adopted by the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism (MESICIC), lists 748 actions that the mechanism’s states parties have reported in their two most recent annual reports on progress in enforcing the Convention, with the support of the recommendations formulated for them by the Committee in pursuit of its implementation. 

Those actions address matters of such importance in anticorruption efforts as the prevention of conflicts of interest, public procurement, statements of assets, the prevention and criminal prosecution of bribery and other acts of corruption such as illicit enrichment, the protection of individuals who report those acts, international cooperation in investigating those offenses and the extradition of the perpetrators, access to public information, and mechanisms to encourage civil society participation in the fight against corruption. 

The actions mainly involved the enactment of laws and other legal provisions, debating draft legislation, training activities, institutional strengthening and international cooperation efforts, and the implementation of technological systems and tools, all with the aim of strengthening the instruments in place in the states of the Americas for combating corruption and for ensuring greater effectiveness in preventing, detecting, and punishing it. 

It should be noted that the actions involving the adoption of laws and other legal provisions and institutional strengthening related to the Convention topics listed above that were analyzed during the first three rounds of the MESICIC account for 52% of the total number of actions reported by the countries. This is a reflection of the attention being paid to strengthening the legal and institutional frameworks for combating corruption, which is one of the basic purposes of the MESICIC. Nevertheless, there are other areas that are no less important, such as training, which accounts for 25% of those actions. 

For additional information on this report and the MESICIC, please visit the Anticorruption Portal of the Americas.

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