PARAGUAY RECEIVES ON-SITE VISIT OF THE OAS ANTICORRUPTION MECHANISM (MESICIC)

From April 16 – 19, 2012, Paraguay received, with its consent, a visit by a team from the OAS Anticorruption Mechanism (Mechanism for Follow-Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption – MESICIC), as part of the review process of said Mechanism, carried out in accordance with the Methodology adopted by consensus by its Member States.  

The team was composed of Iran Tillett-Dominguez, Deputy Solicitor General, Internal Legal Affairs, of the Attorney General’s Ministry of Belize, and by Hernaldo Jose Chamorro, Coordinator of Anticorruption Unit of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Nicaragua, who represent their respective countries before the Mechanism and who were also supported by the Department of Legal Cooperation of the Secretariat for Legal Affairs of the OAS, as the Technical Secretariat of the MESICIC.   

During the four days of work, the members of the team met, among others, with representatives of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Office of the Comptroller General, the Office of the Auditor General of the Executive Branch, the Supreme Court, the Civil Service Secretariat, as well as representatives from Congress, in order to obtain objective and complete information and reveal potential difficulties in the implementation of the Inter-American Convention. It also provided an opportunity to facilitate the obtaining of information related to best practices, and provided Paraguay the opportunity to benefit from or to request technical assistance.   

The team also had the opportunity to meet with civil society organizations, private sector organizations, professional associations, academics and researchers, to address issues useful for the purposes of the visit, such as, among others, legal aspects of access of information, mechanisms of participation of civil society in public administration, the Draft Code of Judicial Organization and joint strategies between civil society and public administration.

The results of this visit forms part of the review process that is currently being carried out by the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC, and which will conclude with the adoption of the Paraguay country report by the Committee at its next plenary meeting to be held in September 2012, in Washington DC at OAS Headquarters.  

The MESICIC is a cooperation mechanism between States, with the participation of civil society organizations, established within the framework of the OAS, in which the legal/institutional framework of each country is reviewed for suitability with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption as well as the objective results achieved therein. The incorporation of on-site visits as a stage and integral part of the MESICIC review process represents an innovative and pioneering initiative in the context of the OAS, especially for a peer review mechanism and the importance of the issues it addresses.  

For more information on the MESICIC, please visit the Anti-Corruption Portal of the Americas at www.oas.org/juridico/english/fightcur.html