Over the past ten years, civil society has played a major role in holding the current 33 signatory states to their anti-corruption commitments. In March, Transparency International presented its recommendations on strengthening the Convention’s monitoring to the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism, the formal follow-up entity established under the Convention. These recommendations included the need for governments to publicly demonstrate how they have implemented the Convention, with both a description of legal changes and state practices, and statistical information that reflects concrete results.

At the March 2006 meeting, the Committee of Experts presented the approved methodology for monitoring implementation. According to TI’s Americas Department, it shows some improvement but is insufficient to ensure compliance with the Convention. Transparência Brasil presented its independent report on compliance with the Convention, stressing the need for an access to information law in Brasil. A report by Transparencia Venezuela evaluated the progress of countries on implementing recommendations.

For the Convention’s tenth anniversary, the Nuevo Herald published an op-ed by Huguette Labelle: The Future of the Americas Depends on the Anti-corruption Fight. Click here to read the op-ed and the accompanying feature story.