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It promoted the first convention against corruption, The Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACAC) in 1996, and has made corruption a high priority at all five Summits of the Americas since 1994.

Yet despite identifying the problem, concrete action remains insufficient. Although 33 out of 34 OAS members have ratified the IACAC, there is still a strong need to translate the words of the convention into national policy and practice. Currently, only 28 states are taking part in the convention’s monitoring mechanism.

The political will to take corruption seriously has not yet translated into a concerted effort to deal with its causes. The region remains racked by violence, poverty and inequality. Organised crime is perceived to have a stranglehold on more than one country and the current build up of conventional weapons, particularly in South America where arms budgets have increased 150 per cent since the beginning of the decade, is a serious concern.

More arms are flowing into the region either illicitly or as part of defence contracts than ever before. According to the World Health organisation, guns are the leading cause of death among Latin Americans between the ages of 15 and 44.

In 2009, TI surveys conducted in eight Latin American countries showed that nearly two-thirds of those questioned thought their governments ineffective in fighting corruption and nearly three-quarters in North America reported the same. Politicians were seen as highly corrupt and one in 10 people reported paying a bribe in the preceding 12 months. Similarly, 21 out of 31 countries included in the 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index scored under 5 out of ten, signalling a perception of widespread corruption, and nine scored less than 3 indicating rampant corruption. In North America few people reported paying bribes but 61 per cent believed that the private sector uses bribes to influence government policies and laws.

Completing this bleak scenario is the existence of offshore havens that facilitate money laundering and the stashing of illicit funds.

The Inter-American Convention provides a solid framework for countries to develop the necessary legislation to ensure impartiality and integrity. The OAS also regularly monitors the progress of signatories through a follow-up mechanism.

In the first and second round of the country reviews which took place between 2002 and 2008, countries were evaluated on their corruption prevention measures, government procurement and hiring processes, whistleblower protection laws and how corruption was classified as a crime within the legal framework. The third round of monitoring currently underway has already evaluated eleven countries on their tax evasion laws, conflict of interest legislation, transnational bribery, illicit enrichment and whether they have implemented previous recommendations arising from the first two rounds.

The results, which TI tracks in its own shadow reports, give reason for concern. During the first round of reviews the 28 countries that took part in the process received a total of 962 recommendations. At the end of the second round in 2008, only 152 of these had been fully implemented. In Venezuela, for example, a recent TI study showed that 97 out of 113 recommendations were ignored and only four had been fully implemented.

To safeguard the legitimacy of the anti-corruption convention and contribute to achieving its original goal of reducing the levels ofcorruption in the hemisphere, the States parties should guarantee full civil society participation in the review process, safeguarding their ability to monitor government progress.

By focusing on Peace, Security and Cooperation at its 40th General Assembly, the OAS has shown it understands the seriousness of the situation. The conference draft declaration calls on member states to use diplomacy in transnational disputes, adhere to international weapons conventions, and maintain arsenals appropriate to their security needs.

Nonetheless, the declaration fails to highlight the role corruption plays in exacerbating crime, insecurity and by extension poverty, which would go far to help build greater trust in governments. Disappointingly, there is no clear call for member states to live up to their commitments to anti-corruption.

• Guarantee a greater role for civil society in monitoring compliance with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACAC) and the Inter-American Convention on Conventional Weapons Acquisitions.
• End restrictions on civil society participation in the follow up mechanism for assessing the implementation of the IACAC and safeguard it from intents to restrict participation in general OAS activities. Venezuela has successfully managed to ban the presentation of shadow reports on its implementation of anti-corruption recommendations.
• Implement on-site visits for anti-corruption progress reports and publication of all reports.
• Increase transparency in defence procurement and defence budgets.
• Improve communications and dissemination of best practices.
• Approve and implement access to information legislation in all OAS countries.
• Transparent disclosure of political party financing, a dire problem in the region as shown in TI studies from 2007.

TI's full recommendations to the 40th OAS General Assembly can be downloaded here: English - Spanish

Resources

The State of Anti-Corruption: Assessing Government Action in the Americas, a 2009 summary report assessing compliance with IACAC.

Country reports on anti-corruption compliance by Transparency International chapters and affiliated organisations:

Presentation by Transparency International at the Dialogue between the Heads of Delegation, the OAS Secretary General, and civil society representatives and presentation of recommendations. Watch the video.

Recent News:

Corrupción: problema de seguridad en las Américas
Venezuela fails to meet 97 out of 113 anti-corruption rules
Jamaica begins hunt for "Dudus", prompting violence
New political winds in Latin America

Contact

Marta Erquicia
Lima: +511 992 906 157 (to 7 June)
Berlin: +49 30 34 38 20 33
Email: merquicia@transparency.org

Photo credits: Flickr/Pequena Verena, iStock/Danish Khan, OAS/org