Six CARICOM Countries Among OAS Member States Reporting On Corruption

WASHINGTON, D.C. CMC – Six Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have submitted reports to the Second Progress Report on Implementation of the Inter American Convention against Corruption.

According to the Organization of American States (OAS), member countries took an estimated 748 relevant actions to combat corruption in their countries between December 2010 and March 2013.

The Inter-American Convention against Corruption and the Follow-Up Mechanism for its Implementation (MESICIC) of the OAS said that Belize, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, had indicated they had taken steps to deal with corruption.

According to OAS body, the countries took actions related to the prevention of conflicts of interest; public procurement; the declaration of assets; the prevention and punishment of bribery and other acts of corruption and illicit enrichment; the protection of those who report such acts; international cooperation for the investigation thereof and extradition of offenders; and access to public information and mechanisms to encourage the participation of civil society in the fight against corruption.

OAS Secretary General, Jose Miquel Insulza, speaking on the importance of the mechanism, said the MESICIC “helps our countries to strengthen their legal and institutional frameworks to address corruption more effectively, to make concrete recommendations so that they can benefit from the provisions of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, to prevent, detect, punish and eradicate this scourge through successful implementation”.

The report, based on information submitted by the countries themselves, summarizes the actions taken against corruption by states both individually as well as following up on the recommendations issued by the MESICIC Committee of Experts in its rounds of analysis.

The measures consist of the issuance of laws and other legal norms; the processing of legislative initiatives; activities aimed at training, capacity building and international cooperation; and the implementation of technological systems and tools aimed at strengthening states instruments to fight corruption, in order to achieve greater effectiveness in its prevention, detection and punishment.

According to the results of the analysis, the countries focused primarily on strengthening their institutional and legal frameworks to combat corruption, with 52 percent of the measures taken aimed at this goal. In second place were training activities, which garnered 25 percent of the actions taken.

The Committee of Experts of MESICIC is composed of experts in the field of combating corruption appointed by each of the 31 states party to the Mechanism.

The Committee is responsible for the technical analysis of implementation of the provisions of the Convention by the States Parties, and is responsible for tracking the progress made by the States Parties.