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Last Updated: Feb 6, 2017 - 2:32:04 PM |
Susana Silva Hasembank, Chair of the Committee of Anti-Corruption Experts (MESICIC)
Date: March 18, 2013
Place: Washington, DC
Credit: Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS
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The Committee of Experts of the Mechanism to Follow Up on Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC)
of the Organization of American States (OAS) today began its 21st
Meeting, which will take place until March 22 at OAS headquarters in
Washington, DC, with an agenda that includes the approval of reports on
Peru, Costa Rica, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago and Honduras, and a
discussion on the responsibility of the private sector in the fight
against corruption.
The Secretary for Legal Affairs of the OAS,
Jean Michel Arrighi, said the MESICIC process "is doubly successful,
because it was born of an agreement in which all OAS Member States were
able to establish the Convention against Corruption,
which regulates issues of the highest sensitivity, and also managed to
create a monitoring mechanism whereby countries mutually evaluate each
other, in an environment in which, without regard to ideological
differences, we have the greatest cooperation and best results."
"In
this round reports from five countries will be considered; progress in
implementing previous recommendations will be reviewed; issues that are
of concern to all countries will be discussed; as will the
responsibility of the private sector in the fight against corruption and
the promotion of citizen participation in transparency and the fight
against corruption," said Secretary Arrighi, who spoke on behalf of the
Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, who traveled to
Vatican City.
The five country/reports that are expected to be
approved by the Committee will be added to those reports that were
adopted last September as part of this Fourth Round regarding Bolivia,
Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico and Paraguay. The reports adopted by the
Committee, as well as those previously approved, are available here.
The reports are prepared by a committee comprising representatives of
two Member States who visit a third country accompanied by officials of
the Department of Legal Cooperation of the OAS, which serves as
Secretariat for the Mechanism. During “on site” visits, which always
have the consent of the host country, the Commission maintains contacts
with political and social actors in the country to carry out its task.
In
this regard, the Director of the Department of Legal Cooperation of the
OAS, Jorge García González, emphasized the "successful progress we made
in the first on site visits" of the Fourth Round and announced that the
Committee is already making progress in organizing subsequent visits to
Colombia, Chile and Uruguay, which will take place in a few weeks, and
later to Guatemala and Panama.
The meeting of the Committee of
Experts this week is chaired by the delegate from Peru, Susana Silva
Hasemback, who occupied until now the Vice Chair of the Committee, and
became Chair with the resignation of the delegate of Colombia. The
meeting will elect a new Vice Chair.
The MESICIC is an
inter-governmental body established within the framework of the OAS. It
supports the States Parties in the implementation of the provisions of
the Convention through a process of reciprocal evaluation, based on
conditions of equality among the states. In this mechanism,
recommendations are formulated with respect to those areas in which
there are legal gaps or in which further progress is necessary.
The MESICIC is part of the framework of the purposes established by the Charter of the OAS.
It takes into account the principles of sovereignty, non-intervention,
and juridical equality of the states. The MESICIC is impartial and
objective in its operations; it neither sanctions, grades, nor
classifies the states, rather it facilitates cooperation between them.
The MESICIC seeks to establish an adequate balance between
confidentiality and transparency in its activities. In addition,
although it is inter-governmental in nature, it may receive
contributions from civil society organizations. In this regard, several
civil society representatives presented today their contributions to the
meeting of the Expert Committee before the opening session of the
event.
For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.
© Copyright 2013 by thebahamasweekly.com
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