We are now living in the eye of the storm. Adapting the world to our climate emergency is essential for our safety, even as we tackle a global pandemic… Millions of lives and the safety of communities around the world are already at stake.
– Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation
Last week, we reported that Barbados has discontinued the “travel bubble” that exempts persons from certain countries from further quarantine or testing upon arrival. Jamaica has also extended its “stay at home” order, with daily curfews from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. Mondays to Fridays and 6:00 p.m. to 5.00 a.m. on Saturdays. Grenada has since joined Jamaica in declaring “no movement days” for the next 14 days including daily curfews although only 24 persons (1 in 4,667) have died from the virus, compared with 674 (1 in 1,161) in Guyana, with 49 recorded deaths so far this month. In a radio and television broadcast, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell stated:
My friends, this is the sad reality of the COVID-19 pandemic – it comes, not like a thief in the night, but like an acquaintance, who befriends you, then slowly, or in some cases, rapidly begins to take control of your life, smothering the air that you breathe and leaving you lifeless. Harsh, but real.
The New Zealand government has eased the lockdown measures that were in place last month following its first confirmed COVID-19 case in six months. Schools, businesses and offices in various parts of the country are allowed to reopen, except for Auckland, the largest city, which remains under strict stay-at-home orders until tomorrow. With a population of 4.92 million, the recorded number of COVID-related deaths in the country is 27 (1 in 184,148).
Here are the latest statistics of COVID-related deaths from selected countries, including Guyana (in order from the most serious):
At a meeting of the Global Center on Adaptation held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, more than 50 Ministers and heads of climate organisations and development banks called for November’s United Nations Conference of Parties (COP26) climate talks to treat adaptation as urgent. This includes building higher flood defences, growing more drought-tolerant crops and relocating coastal communities in order to address the issue of global warming and climate change. Participants warned that the COP26 summit is unlikely to succeed unless advanced adaptation efforts are made to cut carbon emissions. The meeting, attended by former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, called for an urgent increase in international funding to help finance adaptation efforts in poorer nations.
More than 200 of the world’s leading health journals issued a joint statement imploring global leaders to cut greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change which they consider is the greatest threat to public health. The statement warned that the continued buildup of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere will lead to catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse:
Health is already being harmed by global temperature increases and the destruction of the natural world…The science is unequivocal: a global increase of 1.5° C above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse. Despite the world’s necessary preoccupation with Covid-19, we cannot wait for the pandemic to pass to rapidly reduce emissions.
The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, with support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, held a three-day workshop last week mainly for key government agencies. The aim was to assist in building institutional capacity for reporting and fighting corruption and was also held as part of the preparatory work for the second review of Guyana’s compliance with United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
In today’s article, we begin our evaluation of the extent to which Guyana has complied with the provisions of UNCAC, some 13 years since its accession to the Convention by first providing some background information on UNCAC, then outlining the key provisions of the Convention, before going into the actual evaluation. Readers will bear with us if it takes a few articles to do so.
Some background information on UNCAC
UNCAC came into being on 31 October 2003 via UN General Assembly resolution 58/4 and was brought into force at a signing ceremony in Mexico on 9 December 2003. It is the first legally binding international anti-corruption instrument. The resolution referred to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa where corruption was declared a threat to sustainable development of people. Accordingly, the General Assembly expressed concern about ‘the seriousness of problems and threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of societies, undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice, and jeopardising sustainable development and the rule of law’.
In the foreword to the Convention, former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, asserted that:
Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on society. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violations in human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human society to flourish…It hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a Government’s ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice and discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption is a key element in economic underperformance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development.
Mr. Annan stated that UNCAC’s adoption will warn the corrupt that betrayal of the public trust will no longer be tolerated and that it will reaffirm the importance of core values such as honesty, respect for the rule of law, accountability and transparency in promoting development, and making the world a better place for all. He suggested that if the Convention is fully enforced, it will make a real difference to the quality of life of millions of people around the world, and by removing the biggest obstacles to development, it can help achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
In the preamble to the Convention, the General Assembly expressed concern about: the links between corruption and other forms of crime, including money laundering; and cases of corruption that involve vast quantities of assets, which may constitute a substantial portion of the resources of States. The preamble also considered that corruption is no longer a local matter but a transnational phenomenon that affects all societies and economies, making international cooperation to prevent and control it essential.
In addition, the General Assembly stated that it is convinced that the illicit acquisition of personal wealth can be particularly damaging to democratic institutions, national economies and the rule of law. Accordingly, it asserted that the prevention and eradication of corruption is a responsibility of all States. As such, they must cooperate with one another, with the support and involvement of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations, if their efforts in this area are to be effective.
Key provisions
The key provisions of the Convention are as follows:
(a) Anti-corruption and practices in general: Member States are required to develop and implement or maintain effective, coordinated anti-corruption policies that promote the participation of society and reflect the principles of the rule of law, proper management of public affairs and public property, integrity, transparency and accountability. The Convention specifically refers to the establishment of a body or bodies to promote effective practices aimed at preventing corruption. These bodies should be granted the necessary independence to carry out their functions effectively, free of undue influence. They should also be provided with adequate resources, specialized staffing and relevant training.
(b) Preventive anti-corruption measures in the public sector: Member States are required to adopt, maintain and strengthen systems for the recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion and retirement of civil servants and non-elected officials based on:
● Efficiency, transparency and objective criteria such as merit, equity and aptitude;
● Adequate procedures for selection and training for positions vulnerable to corruption as well as the rotation of officials involved;
● Adequate remuneration and pay scales, taking into account the Member State’s economic development;
● Promoting education and training programmes, including specialized training, on the awareness of the risk of corruption; and
● Taking disciplinary measures for any violation of established codes and standards of conduct.
The Convention advocates for criteria to be prescribed concerning candidature for and selection to public office, enhanced transparency in the funding of candidates for elected public office, and funding of political parties. It also requires adopting, maintaining and strengthening systems that promote transparency and prevent conflicts of interest. Other considerations include: promoting integrity, honesty and responsibility among public officials in order to fight corruption; applying codes or standards of conduct for the correct, honourable and proper performance of public functions; and establishing measures and systems to facilitate reporting by public officials of acts of corruption that have come to their notice in the performance of their duties.
Member States are required to promote transparency and accountability in relation to:
● The adoption of the national budget;
● Timely reporting of revenue and expenditure;
● Accounting and auditing standards and related oversight;
● Efficient and effective systems of risk management and internal controls;
● Preservation of the integrity of accounting records and related documents to prevent falsification; and
● Measures and systems requiring public officials to make declarations to the appropriate authorities regarding outside activities, employment, investments, assets and substantial gifts or benefits from which conflict of interest may result.
In the area of public procurement, appropriate systems are required to be established, based on transparency, competition and objective criteria in decision-making that are effective in preventing corruption. An important element is the use of objective and predetermined criteria in procurement decisions to facilitate subsequent verification of the correct application of the rules or procedures as well as an effective system of appeal, including legal recourse and remedies, by any aggrieved party.
The Convention advocates simplified access by members of the public to information on government programmes and activities, including the functioning of public entities, their decision-making processes and their decisions, subject to consideration regarding the protection of privacy and personal data. It also requires the publication of periodic reports on the risk of corruption in public administration.
(c) Judiciary and prosecution services: Parties to the Convention are to take steps to strengthen integrity of the judiciary and to prevent opportunities for corruption among its members, bearing in mind the independence of the judiciary and its crucial role in combating corruption. Such measures may include rules with respect to the conduct of members of the judiciary. Similar measures are to be introduced and implemented in respect of the prosecution services.
(d) Measures relating to the private sector: Enhancing accounting and auditing standards for the private sector is a key requirement, in addition to providing “effective, proportionate and dissuasive civil, administrative or criminal penalties” for failure for non-compliance with these standards. In this regard, a significant degree of cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the relevant private entities is needed, and standards and procedures are to be put in place to safeguard the integrity of private entities, including codes of conduct for the proper performance of activities of business and the prevention of conflicts of interest. Other measures include:
● Adopting good commercial practices among businesses as well as those with contractual relations with the State;
● Promoting transparency among entities, especially as regards the identity of persons involved in establishing and managing corporate entities;
● Preventing the misuse of regulatory procedures, including those relating to subsidies and licences granted by public authorities for commercial activities;
● Preventing conflicts of interest by imposing restrictions on the professional activities of former public officials or on the employment of public officials by the private sector after their resignation or retirement, where such activities or employment relate directly to the functions held or supervised by those public officials during their tenure;
● Ensuring that private enterprises have sufficient internal auditing controls to assist in preventing and detecting acts of corruption, and that the accounts and required financial statements are subject to appropriate auditing and certification procedures; and
● Ensuring the proper books of accounts and related records are maintained, there are adequate financial statement disclosures, and appropriate accounting and auditing standards are used to prohibit, among others: off-the-books accounts; recording of non-existent expenditure; the use of false documents; and tax deductibility of expenses that constitute bribes.
To be continued –
