MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Message from the OAS Secretary General on International Anti-Corruption Day

“Corruption is a crime that has devastating effects on democracy: it degrades institutions, eats away at the basis of the rule of law” said Almagro

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro called on countries of the region to redouble their efforts in strengthening transparency, accountability and integrity in the Americas, putting into practice the mandates of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.

 “Corruption is a crime that has devastating effects on democracy: it degrades institutions, eats away at the basis of the rule of law and alienates the population”, said Almagro on International anti-corruption Day.

He added that ethics in the administration of public policy, transparency and accountability are values capable of rebuilding the trust of citizens and restoring credibility to politics.

“Nineteen years ago this region was a pioneer in adopting a legal instrument to fight this scourge: the Inter-American Convention against Corruption”.

The Convention is the perfect legal instrument to prevent, detect, and investigate acts of corruption, punish those who commit such acts, and recover the goods obtained through them. The document is a guide how to fight corruption underlined Almagro.

”It is the guide that we are currently using, for example, in the establishment of the Mission to Support the Fight Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH)”.

The OAS is also home to the Follow-Up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC). With on-site visits to the countries of the region including the participation of civil society, the Mechanism has adopted 114 reports with concrete recommendations to improve laws on the prevention of conflicts of interest, the declaration of assets of public servants, the internal controls of businesses, and the classification of acts of corruption such as transnational bribery and illicit enrichment, among others, concludes the message.