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One Convention, one common goal, 34 States united against corruption
MESICIC: a mechanism with all the tools to provide legal support to States in their efforts to prevent and combat corruption
We make recommendations to States to strengthen their legal frameworks against corruption
What is the MESICIC?
The Follow-Up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) is the Anticorruption Mechanism of the OAS. It brings together 33 of the 34 Member States to review their legal frameworks and institutions in the light of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.
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Since its inception in 2002, the MESICIC has adopted more than 100 reports with recommendations for States to strengthen their legal frameworks and institutions to effectively combat corruption in areas such as prevention of conflict of interests; conservation of public resources; government procurement; government hiring; ethics training; systems for registering income, assets and liabilities; civil society participation in the fight against corruption; internal oversight in companies to detect and prevent corrupt practices; criminalization of acts of corruption, such as transnational bribery and illicit enrichment; protection of whistleblowers; mutual assistance in prosecuting and punishing those who commit acts of corruption and, as appropriate, their extradition; and oversight bodies responsible for the prevention, detection, punishment and eradication of such acts.
The Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACC)
The IACC is a treaty by which the 34 OAS Member States have undertaken to work together to fight corruption and take specific decisions to that end. Adopting a comprehensive approach, the Convention envisages measures for the prevention, detection, investigation, and punishment of acts of corruption as well as for the recovery of corruption proceeds.
Through a follow-up process carried out by the MESICIC, States receive recommendations in each round of review for advancing with their implementation of the provisions of the Convention, while also periodically examining their progress in relation to recommendations formulated for provisions of the Convention that were subject to previous rounds of review.
What does the MESICIC
consist of?
The political body that issues guidelines on the operation of the MESICIC and for strengthening hemispheric cooperation against corruption in the framework of OAS Convention in that regard.
It is the body responsible for the technical review of the implementation of the Convention by States. The Committee meets twice a year in Washington, D.C., to consider and adopt anticorruption reports for the countries under review, as well as to exchange best practices and discuss matters of collective interest, with a view to strengthening cooperation against corruption.
How does the MESICIC work?
The MESICIC experts, with assistance from the Technical Secretariat, review domestic laws and institutions to determine if they accord with the provisions of the Convention and if they are effective at preventing and combating corruption.
As part of this review process, the experts visit the country being reviewed, where they meet with government officials and civil society organizations to gather more information for their report that will contain recommendations for the State to strengthen its legal framework to prevent and combat corruption.
In the preparation of the report, the MESICIC formulates recommendations to the reviewed countries to improve and adjust their legal frameworks and institutions in order to make them consistent with the provisions of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.
In each round of review, the MESICIC reviews the provisions selected by its Committee of Experts at the start of the round. It also follows up on the recommendations made to each State in previous rounds to assess their implementation and the progress made by the country in terms of combating corruption.
Given that cooperation is one of its pillars, the Technical Secretariat has prepared model laws and legislative guidelines as an aid to States in reforming and strengthening their legal frameworks by making them better at preventing and combating corruption.
As a forum for cooperation, the MESICIC promotes the exchange of best practices, and since March 2018, has had in place a specific methodology for States to present best practices considered useful for preventing and combating corruption.
The Anticorruption Mechanism today
The MESICIC is currently carrying out its Sixth Round of Review of States Parties.
