Anti-Corruption Workshop to be held in Suriname

On June 7th and 8th 2010, the OAS’ Department of Legal Cooperation, of the Secretariat for Legal Affairs, in conjunction with the Attorney General’s Office of Suriname, will hold a Workshop to review a Draft Action Plan for the implementation of the recommendations that the Committee of Experts of the Mechanism for the Follow-up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC), made to Suriname during their First and Second Rounds of Review. The Workshop, which will gather representatives from Surinamese ministries, national universities, business groups, development organizations, and various other branches of civil society, will be held in the Torarica Hotel in Paramaribo. Suriname’s Minister of Justice and Police, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, will deliver the opening remarks for the ceremony.

The workshop participants, who are either policy makers or experts in their respective anti-corruption fields, will review and strengthen the Draft Action Plan written by Reshma Alladin. Her comprehensive work reviews Suriname’s compliance with the recommendations of the MESICIC Committee of Experts, specifically on the subjects of government hiring, conflict of interest, the training of public servants, the procurement of goods and services and the use of public resources, reporting income, assets and liabilities, access to information, and the protection of whistleblowers, among other areas.

The document makes recommendations on how the Surinamese government and legislative body can strengthen anti-corruption mechanisms on these topics, and outlines the processes, actors, timeframe, and costs necessary in implementing a specific recommendation. With their particular insight, along with their sector-based experience, the workshop participants will have the chance to suggest ways in which the implementation of the MESICIC’s recommendations for Suriname can be facilitated.

Ms. Garcia Paragsingh, LL.M, the Chief Public Prosecutor at Suriname’s Office of the Attorney General, considers the Action Plan Program a useful tool in both information diffusion and technical support. She believe that Suriname’s Action Plan “creates awareness with regard to the Inter-American Convention against Corruption and its provisions in addition to creating awareness on what corruption is, its impact on society, where it can occur and how it does.” Furthermore, Ms. Paragsingh notes that the action plan “is an important tool for the government of Suriname on how to approach the issue of combating and preventing corruption – where to start, which measures need to be taken, where to search for financial and technical support, etc.”

Although a daunting task, the OAS’ efforts to uproot corruption in the Americas demonstrate the organization’s and its member states’ commitment to inter-American legal cooperation. According to Ms. Paragsingh, this shared push for cooperation in anti-corruption matters is reflected within Suriname as well: “the action plan clearly shows that combating corruption is not only the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and Police, but that in fact everyone in society has the task and obligation to fight it. This means all government departments, civil society, NGOs, etc.”

These workshops are all part of a general framework, established through the MESICIC, to strengthen inter-American legal cooperation under the mark of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption and its Follow-up Mechanism (MESICIC).

What is the MESICIC?

The Mechanism For Follow-up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, known as MESICIC for its Spanish acronym, is a tool to support the development of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption through cooperation between States Parties.

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