GUYANA WITHDRAWS RESERVATION TO INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION

The Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana ratified the Inter-American Convention against Corruption on December 11, 2000 and deposited the instrument of ratification on February 15, 2001, subject to the following reservation:

"The Cooperative Republic of Guyana does not consider itself bound to extend the actions of seizure under Article XV of the present Convention to the extent that such actions violate the provisions of Article 142(1) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana."

On March 29, 2011, the Government of the Republic of Guyana submitted a letter to the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States accompanied by an instrument attesting the fact that it is withdrawing its reservation to the Convention.

The letter signed by H.E. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Minister of Foreign Affairs, states that the reason for which the reservation was submitted no longer exists with the enactment of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act 2009.

By withdrawing the reservation to said article of the Convention, Guyana will now be able to provide to and to receive from any of the other States Parties to the Convention, the broadest possible measure of assistance in the identification, tracing, freezing, seizure and forfeiture of property or proceeds obtained, derived from or used in the commission of criminal offenses related to acts of corruption established in accordance with the Convention.

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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