STATES MOVE FORWARD IN GRANTING THEIR CONSENT FOR ON-SITE VISITS BY OAS ANTICORRUPTION MECHANISM

The Member States of the Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) have moved forward in granting their consent for on-site visits to be carried out, in accordance with the Methodology they adopted to that end, as part of the review process for assisting them in the implementation of the Convention.

At the Third Meeting of the Conference of States Parties to the MESICIC, held in Brasilia in December 2010, the Member States agreed by consensus to recommend that the Committee of Experts adopt a methodology for conducting on-site visits that would, inter alia, ensure all the States equal and impartial treatment and establish procedures whereby the country under review could give official consent for the on-site visit to be carried out.

Subsequently, in March 2011, at its Eighteenth Meeting, the MESICIC Committee of Experts also approved by consensus the aforementioned methodology. In addition to regulating the manner in which States must express their consent for an on-site visit to go ahead, it also contains the provisions necessary to ensure that the visit’s objectives are met. The methodology can be found at the following link: http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/met_onsite.pdf

Currently, the Technical Secretariat of the MESICIC is receiving information from the States regarding their consent to on-site visits that are to be carried out as part of the review process for the Fourth Round, which is to begin in 2012. Already, many States have given their consent for on-site visits to be carried out in their countries.

The Member States that have to date formally expressed their consent include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the United States. Over the coming days, we expect to receive similar notifications from many of the other Member States to the MESICIC, which have reported that they are taking the steps needed domestically to formalize their consent.

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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