Insulza Calls on Experts to Maintain Rigorous Review of Country Compliance with Anti-Corruption Convention

 “Given that the acts of corruption are increasingly more sophisticated, we should be more careful each time in examining the juridical and institutional instruments that we count on to confront this,” urged OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza during opening remarks of the 11th Plenary Meeting of the MESICIC Committee of Experts, held June 25-29, 2007 at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC.

During the week long meeting, the MESICIC Committee of Experts reviewed the progress of 6 countries in the implementation of selected measures from the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, including measures related to government hiring and procurement and whistle blower protection.

Insulza stressed the significance of these measures, noting their “fundamental importance for the prevention and repression of corruption.” He also pointed out that despite the progress already achieved, the international community should continue to work with “efficiency, objectivity and transparency” to combat the scourge of corruption.

The 6 countries for which final reports were adopted were Bolivia, Peru, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago.

The next meeting of the MESICIC Committee of Experts will take place December 3-8, 2007. The countries to be reviewed are Colombia, Panama, Chile, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas.

The MESICIC review process operates in a series of successive “rounds” in which each State Party is reviewed to see how well it is complying with selected provisions of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. The Second Round of Review, which began in April, 2006, is scheduled to be completed in December, 2008. The provisions from the Convention selected for review during the Second Round are:

• Systems of government hiring and procurement of goods and services. (Article III, paragraph 5)

• Systems for protecting public servants and private citizens who, in good faith, report acts of corruption. ( Article III, paragraph 8)

• Acts of corruption (Article VI )

The Second Round reports also consider the steps taken by each State Party to implement the recommendations adopted by the Committee from the first round reports.

MESICIC, known for its acronym in Spanish, is the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. The Convention was adopted in 1996, and the Follow-up Mechanism was created in 2001 to monitor compliance with the Convention.

For more information about the Convention and MESICIC please visit our website.