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OAS Conference Highlights the Role of Citizen Participation and Private Sector Responsibility in the Fight against Corruption

The issues of citizen participation and private sector responsibility as tools in preventing and fighting the scourge of corruption were the subjects of discussion on the agenda for the second day of the “Conference on the Progress and Challenges in Hemispheric Cooperation against Corruption” being held in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, on June 21 and 22.

The third panel focused on identifying the existing mechanisms to promote active participation by civil society in the fight against corruption. In this sense, the Under-secretary of Transparency and Anti-corruption in the Secretariat for Strategic Affairs of El Salvador, Marcos Rodríguez, narrated his country’s experience in articulating anti-corruption policies with civil society. Furthermore, he referred to the way in which participation by civil society was brought about through the creation of the Under-secretariat for Transparency and Anti-corruption, under the Presidency of the Republic, through public consultations with civil and private organizations that had knowledge of and a commitment to the subject.

For his part, Julio César Terán Suárez, of the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control of Ecuador, spoke on the participation mechanisms contained in the constitutional framework of his country and accountability mechanisms, the work of coordination and research and the support initiatives for protecting whistleblowers and for the Council’s task of amassing information. He highlighted that on the subject of transparency and the fight against corruption, progress has been achieved in Ecuador that is reflected in the participatory design of a policy of Transparency and Fight against Corruption, in the establishment of a Strategic Plan of Training and Education on Transparency and the fight against corruption, and in the construction of an Advanced Diagnostics and Baseline of Corruption.

The Caribbean experiences were included in the seminar’s agenda with the presentation of the Presidential Advisor on Governance in the Office of the President of Guyana, Gail Teixeira, who spoke about the participatory mechanisms of civil society in her country, with emphasis on an open policy of inclusion that is promoted at different levels and the existing legislation to promote accountability and government transparency. The representative of the Guyana government also emphasized the way in which her country has progressed in the creation of multiple spaces of participation by civil society organizations on issues that affect the community, and she highlighted the importance of relying on an inclusive government that promotes social cohesion as a means of preventing corruption and fomenting trust.

The Executive Director of the Corporation “Transparencia por Colombia,” Elisabeth Ungar Bleier, explained some of the concrete experiences of participation by civil society in the fight against corruption. In her presentation she recalled that “corruption is an issue of shared responsibilities”, and that without the oversight and pressure of civil society “the fight against corruption would remain in a coma.” She highlighted that civil society conducts a key contribution in the fight against corruption, since it increases responsibility and the integrity in the handling of public affairs; it allows people individually considered to influence the affairs of the State; makes better conditions of transparency possible; generates trust among rulers and the citizenry; improves the legitimacy of state actions and the conditions in the business environment. Finally, Ungar Bleier recalled the need to rely on an active and participatory citizenry with high levels of knowledge to contribute to the fight against corruption.

The forum participants also repeatedly referred to the responsibility of the private sector in the fight against corruption, an aspect highlighted by the OAS Secretary General and the Vice President of the Republic of Colombia in their respective speeches at the opening of the seminar.

The case of the existing initiatives for cooperation between the public and private sectors in Brazil was presented by the Secretary of Corruption Prevention and Strategic Information of the Comptrollership General of the Union, Mário Vinícius Claussen Spinelli, who asserted that corruption “negatively affects economic development, reduces the level of new investment, creates disloyal competition, breaks the bonds of trust, affects the availability of public services and reduces growth in the markets”. Hence, he emphasized that the fight against this scourge is of common interest for both sectors, and noted his country’s efforts to achieve the effective implementation of public policies in this area. Among the initiative undertaken he mentioned the dialogue with the businesses for the exchange of experiences in the search for integrity; the creation of a registry of disabled and suspended businesses that cannot be hired by government bodies; and the development of a system of ethics and transparency evaluation applied by the businesses, that is kept in a database.

Another case analyzed in the area of private sector responsibility was the Mexican experience. The Coordinator of the Anti-corruption Committee and against Money Laundering of the National Association of Business Lawyers (ANADE) of Mexico, Luis F. Ortiz de la Concha, focused on the challenges and progress his country has achieved to implement its anti-corruption policies, especially the Federal Anti-corruption Law on Public Contracting, which defines the procedures and protection to whistleblowers and establishes a mechanism of incentives and rewards for those that contribute to identify acts of corruption. Ortiz agreed with other speakers on the issue of public-private shared responsibility, and elaborated on how Mexico has made progress on transparency in the processes of buying and bidding on public works.

Finally, the Lawyer for the General Internal Audit Council of the Government of Chile, Felipe Aliaga Hernández, offered the legal perspective of business responsibility in the fight against corruption. His presentation included the fundamental aspects of the Law of Penal Responsibility of the Businesses in Chile, the attribution of penal responsibility of legal persons, the activities that involve the investigation of crimes, and the cases in which the law must be applied, as well as its different interpretations and applications. Also, he referred to the auditing tools to evaluate the fulfillment of the law in businesses.

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

Reference: E-735/11