MANDATES
Take concrete actions, with the participation and collaboration of civil society, to improve the promotion and protection of human rights defenders, including those working on environmental matters, to include:
b. Public and inclusive participation and access to judicial and administrative procedures and to information on public policies; (Inter-American Action Plan on Democratic Governance, IX Summit of the Americas, Los Angeles, 2022).
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Strengthening judicial autonomy and independence, following applicable inter-American and universal standards on this matter, to promote respect for the rule of law and access to justice as well as to promote and encourage policies of integrity and transparency in the judicial system. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Promoting and or strengthening the implementation of national policies and plans, and as appropriate subnational plans in the areas of open government, digital government, open data, fiscal transparency, open budgeting, digital procurement systems, public contracting and a public registry of state suppliers, considering towards that end the participation of civil society and other social actors. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Consolidating the autonomy and independence of high-level oversight bodies. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Encouraging adoption and/or strengthening of measures that promote transparency, accountability, appropriate accounting, and use of the banking system for income and expenditures of political organizations and parties, especially those related to their electoral campaigns, in order to guarantee the licit origin of the contributions and penalizing anyone involved in accepting illicit contributions. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Promoting the use of digital systems for government procurement and contracting of services and public works, to ensure disclosure, transparency, citizen oversight, and effective accountability. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Implementing intergovernmental mechanisms to monitor specific projects at the request of the State that will be implementing them, in keeping with its legal framework, in order to ensure transparency and build trust. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Promoting the inclusion of anti-corruption clauses in all state and public-private-partnership contracts and establishing registers of natural and legal persons involved in acts of corruption and money laundering with a view to ensuring that they are not contracted. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Adopting a legal framework for holding legal entities accountable for acts of corruption, including domestic and international bribery, consistent with the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, when such a framework does not already exist under domestic law. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Considering the provision of the broadest possible assistance, where appropriate and in keeping with the respective domestic legal frameworks, with investigations and procedures corresponding to civil and administrative matters regarding acts of corruption committed by natural and legal persons. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Promoting transparency in the exchange of tax information and requesting that the Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG) consider strengthening cooperation in this area among our States consistent with the existing international framework. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Continuing to strengthen the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC), by identifying resources to bolster its operations with a view to more efficiently addressing the new challenges that corruption poses in the Hemisphere. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Calling upon MESICIC to promote instruments for the exchange and dissemination of best practices, technical capacities, and measures to strengthen legal and institutional frameworks to prevent and combat corruption that will contribute to the implementation of its recommendations. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Calling upon MESICIC to coordinate with other international and regional anti-corruption bodies so as to foster synergies and to avoid duplication of efforts in the fight against corruption. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Continuing to advance effective implementation of the recommendations made by MESICIC through concrete measures prior to the regular session of the OAS General Assembly, to be held in 2020. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Calling upon MESICIC to develop, within the framework of its sphere of competence, an initiative for observing and measuring anti-corruption policies, with a view to formulating anti-corruption indicators, promoting corruption prevention mechanisms, evaluating the impact and progress of public policies, consolidating a database of regional best practices, and conducting prompt risk analysis. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
Calling upon the Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG) to support the implementation and strengthening of national human rights-based programs to develop the capacity of the police, public prosecutors’ offices, the judiciary, and domestic oversight agencies to combat acts of corruption, including those related to drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, trafficking in firearms and other weapons and the smuggling of goods and wildlife. (Lima Commitment. Peru, 2018)
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We reaffirm the importance of an independent judiciary and our determination to ensure equal access to justice and to guarantee its timely and impartial administration. We commit ourselves to increase transparency throughout government (Declaration of Québec, 2001).
Recognizing that equal access to independent, impartial and timely justice is a cornerstone of democracy and economic and social development, welcoming more frequent meetings, consultations and collaboration among our justice ministers, supreme court justices, attorneys general, ombudsman officials, law enforcement officials and others, and noting with satisfaction the increased interest in collaborating and sharing experiences to develop and implement judicial and law enforcement reforms: (Plan of Action Québec, 2001).
Encourage measures to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, including transparent judicial selection, secure tenure on the bench, appropriate standards of conduct and systems of accountability; (Plan of Action Québec, 2001).
Strengthen, as appropriate, systems of criminal justice founded on the independence of the judiciary and the effectiveness of public prosecutors and defense counsels, recognizing the special importance of the introduction of oral proceedings in those countries that consider it necessary to implement this reform.(Plan of Action Santiago, 1998).
