A number of international cooperation organizations, such as USAID, UNPD and the World Bank, subscribed to the idea that the barriers to development were closely tied to problems in the structure of poor country institutions.
They led them to include the issue of corruption in their agenda and the need for institutional reform in order to combat it. Many of these international cooperation organizations created action plans and allocated resources to projects aimed at controlling corruption.
With the advent of globalization, cross-border cooperation gained importance as it became clear that large-scale criminal corruption had adapted rapidly to the globalized economy.
The GECD -Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the OAS -Organization of American States were among the most important of such organizations.
The DECO developed the Anti-Bribery Convention, focuses mainly on corrupt practices by foreign companies overseas.
The OAS convention, approved at its 1996 Annual Meeting, covers both active and passive corruption, in both the private and public sector, within or outside national borders. These conventions were intended to induce sovereign states to redouble their efforts to prevent, detect, punish and eradicate corruption by creating and strengthening mechanisms for mutual cooperation.
These mechanisms of cooperation between states consist mainly of adopting the same legal definitions of corruption and finding new ways of cooperating on issues of criminal responsibility.
The objective is to put an end to the impunity that results from the gap between the global economy and the limitations of national prosecution authorities. For this reason, the convention needs to be monitored following signing and ratification and this monitoring. from implementation through 10 legislation through to sanctions, is a means of ensuring that the conventions are complied with.
I) Target Audience:
o Members of public servants and NGO’s involved in anti-corruption efforts;
o Researches, lawyers. PhD. postdoctoral fellows have interest in this program;
2) Objectives: Qualification of experts in a fighting corruption;
o Discussion about a new pillar; Criminalization (active bribe; laundering money; embezzlement; misuse influence);
o A global overview capable of making the target audiences to make their own evaluations on filed action;
o These elements will help the professionals as a reflection matter and acknowledgement concepts and targets to reach during their’s careers;
2. 1) Selection Audience:
o A curriculum vitae analysis and profile reflecting an important overview in their active professional responsibilities;
2.2) Case material:
o In a integrated syllabus, coordinating theoretical concepts and discussion topics;
3) Seminar outline:
o Effective Implementation of international conventions;
o Construction and evaluation of monitoring mechanisms;
o Visibility of conventions and mechanisms for monitoring;
4) Topics for discussion:
4.1) Definition: According to concepts by UN, World Bank, IMF, PNUD, OCDE, OAS.
2) Causes of corruption;
o Responsibility of public institutions;
o Monopoly; Absence of transparency;
o Lack of equilibrium in administrative, cultural, economic and political sphere.
3) Consequences of corruption:
o Implication on stability and security of societies;
o Damage the Democratic value and moral;
o In a global level, there is a connection between corruption and criminal organization;
o Indirect costs of corruption is the decline of productivity.
4) External and internal contol Four Stages:
o Preventions: transparency and responsibility; ethics codes and integrity.
o Detection;
o Investigation;
o Control;
5) Political Control:
5.1) there is need to establish, within the organization, various mechanisms which will foster ethical behavior and allow individuals to seek advice.
Responsibilities may include:
– Global accountability for developing and directing an organization’s ethics, compliance, and business conduct function for the Total Corporation or organization;
– Providing leadership, oversight, and expert advice to ensure appropriate development, interpretation, and implementation of ethics and compliance strategies, policies and programs,
– Accountability for all program activities relating to standards of conduct including ethical relationships with employees, customers, contractors, suppliers, shareholders, and other stakeholders,
– Providing leadership in the development of a compliance risk management program to assess, prioritize, and effectively manage legal and regulatory compliance,
o Accountability for the organization-wide confidential reporting program (such as a Hotline) allowing employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to report violations of the organization’s ethical standards, violations of law or corporate policy, without fear of retaliation;
o Setting the strategy for and administering the organization’s annual or periodic ethics and compliance training, and regular communications around ethics, compliance and conduct issues,
– Conducting investigations into alleged violations of organizational ethics, compliance or conduct practices and making recommendations for resolution of misconduct
o Including disciplinary action;
o Measuring and assessing organizational performance in compliance and ethics arenas, and;
o Providing comprehensive reports to the CEO and any committees, the Board of Directors etc. ;
5.2) Ethics Committees for monitoring implementation of the ” Integrity system” Roles can include a spectrum from advisory (no hands-on) to very hands-on involvements, as follows. This will depend upon the organizational culture, nature of the business, tolerance for control of compliance outside traditional hierarchical structures etc:
o Develop and regularly review standards and procedures -Resolve conflicts between competing ethical requirements;
o Suggest behaviors that reinforce the organization’s ethics guidelines -Assume responsibility for overall compliance;
o Act as a court of appeal: interpretations of standards and procedures;
o Define how the organization balances the rights of individual employees against the organization’s needs solicit stakeholder input regarding how standards and procedures to defined and enforced;
o Develop and disseminate the organization’s standards, policies and guidelines on ethical decision making;
o Oversight an Ethics “Hot Line” as a mechanism for seeking guidance and reporting suspected wrongdoing and to protect employees’ privacy;
o Serve as the primary agent for enforcement and discipline;
o Ensure that offences are not repeated, through direct action; Provide a forum to foster communication among ethics committees at large;
o Monitor and audit overall compliance -Undertake or commission research projects on ethics issues relevant to the organization Whistleblower procedures and protection Three Polarized Views of Whistle blowing;
o The worst possible disloyalty an employee can perpetrate;
o “Ratting’ on others, or on the organization; – An unfortunate but necessary evil, to be avoided at all costs, but ultimately may be necessary as the only option and expectation that it must happen;
o That everyone has the responsibility to blow the whistle as a public duty.
The organization needs to emphasize and assert where it stands on this and what it expects of its managers and leaders. Managers should ask themselves:
– Does my organization have clearly documented procedures for receiving and investigating a public interest disclosure from internal or external sources?
– Does my organization have appropriate safeguards to preserve confidentiality?
– Does my organization have trained investigators who can impartially perform investigations?
– Does my organization have a process for proper recording of public interest disclosures and the action taken on them’?
– Does my organization have documented procedures to protect staff who may be the subject of a reprisal because of a public interest disclosure?
– Does my staff has a clear understanding of their ethical obligation to report fraud, corruption and bad administration of which they become aware?
– Does my staff have a clear understanding of what a public interest disclosure is, how to make a public interest disclosure, and what they should do if they receive a public interest disclosure in their role as a supervisor?
5.3) the various types of whistle blowing:
Internal Whistle blowing Disclosure to someone within the organization itself. Is this ethical if it is “required” of employees?
Is it ethical if there is no such requirement? Which loyalty takes precedence (to the organization or to the fellow employee)?
External Whistle blowing Disclosure to someone outside the organization. Is this ever morally defensible? 5.4) Governmental Whistle blowing Unauthorized disclosure of actions and/or information related to the activities
of a government or its employees. Personal Whistle blowing Reporting the actions of another which we regard as injurious to us personally Impersonal Whistle blowing Reporting the actions of another which we regard as injurious to others (not us personally).
5. 5) Governmental Control
o Federal and state Audit Courts, responsible for controlling public finances and property and monitoring public tenders and contracts;
o The Public Prosecutors Office, responsible for public prosecutions for administrative dishonesty or criminal activity;
o The Legislature (Municipal and state legislatures and Congress) with the power to institute parliamentary inquiry commissions to investigate administrative dishonesty or misappropriation of public funds, 10 annul executive powers and disenfranchise members of the legislature itself;
o The Attorney General of the Republic, responsible for offences involving the use of federal l funds;
o The Federal Tax Department, responsible for connect tax declarations and reporting, and empowered to investigate sudden or unexplained increases in personal net worth and give evidence in political and legal proceedings.
6) Social Control:
o NGO’s;
o Civil Society;
7) History of corruption:
– Decade 60th: Traditional Understanding. Morally/ethically unacceptable behavior. Solution was understood like individual problem and solution had place in put out the government employee or public servant.
– Decade 70th: Functionalist Understanding. Corruption is essential for development the poor countries. Problem was the local culture.
– Decade 80th: Evolution Theory Understanding. Social-economic approach. Causes of corruption reside inside the institutions and are necessary to modify the institutions.
– Decade 90th: Ethical-reform Understanding. The comprehension of corruption beginning with the expansion of economic activity of State and the concessions offer to it.
The conclusion is attention in a systemic corruption and dysfunction/misshapen of State. (?) This tendency agrees with the reform of State.
8) Types of corruption:
o Fraud;
o Speed money;
o Clienteles (privileges for certain clients or sells of dependents in exchange for their votes); o Patronage;
o Abuse of position; Favoritism;
o Nepotism;
o Legal discrimination;
o Appropriation of public resources;
o Conflicts of interest.
9) Perspective for the future International Conventions as a tool. (Big cases of corruption)
o Juridical: cooperation between north-south;
o Monitoring of conventions articles: it is important to the success of convention;
o Performance of conventions: as a group (Collective);
o Technical assistance: a pragmatic work, and important, because isn’t allow a weak link;
o Harmonization of law: domestic and international responsibility;
o Reforms: international context;
o Conventions Logistic: bureaucracy responsibility; waste monitoring; review terms; write questionnaires; get experts; review written report and recommendations; local law.
Building a Curriculum For an Anti-Corruption Course
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