Peer reviews by a committee of experts were undertaken as part of the monitoring process of the five countries implementing the in the areas of government procurement, government hiring, whistleblower protection and specific acts of corruption that should be classified as crimes. Part of the information informing these reviews was questionnaires filled out by civil society parallel to those completed by the government.

Transparency International has had a leading role in this process since its beginning. National chapters and other civil society organisations from the countries reviewed and presented their reports to the committee of experts.

Transparencia Venezuela, TI’s chapter in Venezuela, was prevented by its government from presenting its report on the country’s compliance with the IACAC at this last OAS meeting in June. This represented a strong intervention in the official process for participation at the OAS. The censored report is based on official governmental information and shows that no steps have been taken to fulfil the convention.

Transparencia Venezuela and TI’s international secretariat urged the OAS to recognise this violation and defend civil society’s right to participate in the legitimate process to follow-up on countries’ commitments. The OAS has had the opportunity to intervene since December 2006, when Venezuela began its efforts to block the report by Transparencia Venezuela.

Other civil society organisations from across the Americas have also raised their voices in support of Transparencia Venezuela and civil society more generally to their governments and the OAS.

To see Transparency International’s latest press release on this issue, go to:

www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2007/2007_06_27_venezuela_oas_en