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States News Service
October 20, 2011 Thursday
CORRUPTION: ARMENIA SHOULD STEP UP IMPLEMENTATION OF ANTI-CORRUPTION
POLICIES AND LAWS
PARIS, France
The following information was released by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):
Armenia should step up its fight against corruption by ensuring an
effective enforcement of laws and giving institutions the resources
they need to tackle it, according to a new report by the Istanbul
Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP).
Armenia's leaders have recently taken steps to improve their country's
anti-corruption policies, legislation and institutions. However
citizens and business still consider corruption a major problem and
public awareness of the damages it causes is rising.
A key challenge to Armenia's anti-corruption efforts is that political
declarations and laws are not properly implemented. The results in
investigations and prosecutions of corruption crimes are very limited,
says the report. Stronger political leadership would help and the
government should give law enforcement agencies access to bank
information and other financial data so they can detect and
investigate corruption-related offences more effectively.
The report also recommends that Armenia:
Ensure vigorous implementation of anti-corruption strategies through
stronger leadership and necessary resources;
Involve civil society in anti-corruption policies and actions;
Continue strengthening the investigation and prosecution of
corruption, in particular among high-ranking officials; and
Ensure a transparent and effective public procurement system.
This report commends Armenia on progress made in the following areas:
Adopting a well-elaborated anti-corruption strategy and establishing a
mechanism for its coordination;
Creating in 2008 a specialised body to investigate crimes committed by
senior public officials;
Adopting a new public sector ethics law, which includes measures for
preventing corruption among high-ranking officials, protecting
whistleblowers and requiring high-ranking officials to declare
property and income.
The full report and recommendations on Armenia are available here.
The IAP is an initiative launched in 2003 to support anti-corruption
reform efforts in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz
Republic, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as part of the OECD
Working Group on Bribery outreach work in Eastern Europe and Central
Asia under its regional initiative Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern
Europe and Central Asia.
For further information, you can contact Ms. Inese Gaika at the OECD's
Anti-Corruption Division at (33) 1 45 24 13 19 or
[email protected]
For more information on OECD's work to fight corruption, visit
www.oecd.org/daf/nocorruption.
October 20, 2011 Thursday
CORRUPTION: ARMENIA SHOULD STEP UP IMPLEMENTATION OF ANTI-CORRUPTION
POLICIES AND LAWS
PARIS, France
The following information was released by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):
Armenia should step up its fight against corruption by ensuring an
effective enforcement of laws and giving institutions the resources
they need to tackle it, according to a new report by the Istanbul
Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP).
Armenia's leaders have recently taken steps to improve their country's
anti-corruption policies, legislation and institutions. However
citizens and business still consider corruption a major problem and
public awareness of the damages it causes is rising.
A key challenge to Armenia's anti-corruption efforts is that political
declarations and laws are not properly implemented. The results in
investigations and prosecutions of corruption crimes are very limited,
says the report. Stronger political leadership would help and the
government should give law enforcement agencies access to bank
information and other financial data so they can detect and
investigate corruption-related offences more effectively.
The report also recommends that Armenia:
Ensure vigorous implementation of anti-corruption strategies through
stronger leadership and necessary resources;
Involve civil society in anti-corruption policies and actions;
Continue strengthening the investigation and prosecution of
corruption, in particular among high-ranking officials; and
Ensure a transparent and effective public procurement system.
This report commends Armenia on progress made in the following areas:
Adopting a well-elaborated anti-corruption strategy and establishing a
mechanism for its coordination;
Creating in 2008 a specialised body to investigate crimes committed by
senior public officials;
Adopting a new public sector ethics law, which includes measures for
preventing corruption among high-ranking officials, protecting
whistleblowers and requiring high-ranking officials to declare
property and income.
The full report and recommendations on Armenia are available here.
The IAP is an initiative launched in 2003 to support anti-corruption
reform efforts in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz
Republic, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as part of the OECD
Working Group on Bribery outreach work in Eastern Europe and Central
Asia under its regional initiative Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern
Europe and Central Asia.
For further information, you can contact Ms. Inese Gaika at the OECD's
Anti-Corruption Division at (33) 1 45 24 13 19 or
[email protected]
For more information on OECD's work to fight corruption, visit
www.oecd.org/daf/nocorruption.