O.A.S. anti-corruption mechanism visits Haiti, where corruption is deeply rooted.
| Autor | Rodriguez, George |
With a record as a corruption- and poverty-ridden country, Haiti was visited early this month by the Mecanismo de Segimiento de la Implementacion de la Convencion Interamericana contra la Corrupcion (MESICIC), a work group of the Organization of American States (OAS).
During its April 8-10 stay in this French- and Creole-speaking Caribbean island nation--where some 9.7 million of the 10.4 million population live in extreme poverty, 78% with an income below US$2 a day--the MESICIC commission met with government, judicial, and security officials, as well as grassroots, private sector, and professional organizations, academics, and researchers (NotiCen, Feb. 20, 2014).
An OAS communique said the work group's aim was "to obtain objective and complete information and reveal potential difficulties." The visit "also provided an opportunity to ease the exchange of information related to best practices, and provided Haiti the opportunity to benefit from or to request technical assistance," added the OAS.
Commission meetings allowed it "to address issues related to the challenges facing the investigation, prosecution, and punishment of acts of corruption in Haiti; civil society's views on the role of oversight bodies in Haiti; conflict of interests; sworn statements of assets and liabilities; as well as the participation of the civil society in the fight against corruption in Haiti," the communique further reported.
"The results of this visit form part of the review process that is currently being carried out by the Committee of Experts of the MESICIC, and which will conclude with the adoption of the first Haiti report by the Committee at its next plenary meeting to be held in September 2014, in Washington, DC, at OAS Headquarters," the group explained.
Haiti a world leader in corruption
Corruption is usually a sensitive issue in any country, and, whether in Creole or in French, corruption is particularly complex in Haiti, last year's worst rated nation of the Central American and Caribbean region in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the yearly worldwide report issued by Transparency International (TI).
In the latest CPI, Haiti ranked 163 among 177 countries and territories worldwide, with a score of 26 points, seven below Honduras, the region's second-worst rated, on a scale ranging from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean").
In the introduction to last year's report, TI highlighted that, "while a handful performed well, not one single...
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