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Colombia Received On Site Visit of the OAS Anti-Corruption Mechanism

A Commission from the Anti-Corruption Mechanism of the Organization of American States (OAS), visited Colombia on April 8 -10, with the consent of the host country, as part of the review process of said Mechanism, carried out in accordance with the Methodology adopted by consensus by its Member States.

During the visit, the Commission gathered information on the implementation in Colombia of the provision of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption regarding oversight bodies, specifically the Office of the Prosecutor General, he Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Comptroller General, the Superior Council of the Judicature, and the Supreme Court of Justice.

During the three days of work, the members of the Commission met, among others, with the highest authorities of the oversight bodies mentioned above, as well as with representatives of civil society organizations, private sector, and members of academia, in order to gather full and objective information about these bodies and learn of any difficulties in implementing the recommendations referred to above.

The Commission was composed of Tatiana Gutierrez Delgado, Public Ethics Prosecutor of Costa Rica, and Veronica Taracena Gil, Coordinator of the Presidential Commission for Transparency and Electronic Government of Guatemala, who represent their respective countries before the Mechanism, and who were also supported by the General Secretariat of the OAS during the visit.

The Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) is a method of cooperation among States, with participation of organizations civil society, established in the framework of the OAS, which analyzes the legal and institutional frameworks of each country, its adaptation to the Inter-American Convention against Corruption and the objective results achieved.

In Colombia, the Commission also gathered information on the implementation of the recommendations that were made ​​by the MESICIC to Colombia in the First Round, relating to, among other issues, the preservation of public resources, reporting of acts of corruption, financial disclosure systems, civil society participation and access to public information.

The results of this visit form part of the review process that is currently being carried out by the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC, which will conclude with the adoption of the Colombia country report by the Committee at its next plenary meeting to be held in September 2013, at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-148/13