Confronting the Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century

Report Home Message from the Steering Committee (html, pdf) Democracy as a Starting Point (html, pdf) Excerpts from the Keynote Address by Fernando Henrique Cardoso President of Brazil Greetings from Around the World (html, pdf) Democracy Courage Tributes (html, pdf) Workshop Reports Topical (html, pdf) Regional (html, pdf) Functional (html, pdf) Participants (html, pdf) Press (html, pdf) Assembly Support (html) Download Acrobat Reader

How Can Parliaments Strengthen Accountability in the Fight against Corruption?

• Public accounts committees of parliaments should publish timely and accurate reviews of auditor general reports that can be understood by parliamentarians and the public. This helps parliaments to ensure transparency, accountability, and government responsiveness to citizens.
• The rule of law should be respected. Codes of conduct for government should be applied and independence of the judiciary ensured.
• Parliamentarians should determine how they can improve themselves and their understanding of accountability and transparency. In short, parliamentarians must be driven to serve society rather than themselves.

• Opposition parties provide legitimacy to parliaments since they help ensure that parliaments hold governments to account.
• The international community should support opposition parties since they are often weak.
• The experience of Cambodia, where national revenue is concentrated on aid and loans, demonstrates that the most effective method of pressuring governments to be accountable is through the international community.
• International organizations, such as the World Bank and regional development banks, should consider the issue of corruption in parliament and the important role of opposition parties before approving loans to governments.

• In April 1994, the National Commission of Public Ethics consulted the highest authorities of both state and civil society and issued a report detailing proactive steps to deal with corruption. This led to a law on administrative transparency established in December 1999.
• The Inter-American Convention on Corruption was ratified in1999 to prevent and punish acts of corruption.
• The Law on the Freedom of the Press was passed in Chile after five years of discussion; it strengthened the legal status of press freedom and removed the obstacles to it.

• Legislation was passed stipulating that the appointment of high-level public servants and ministers must be approved by the Parliament, which can remove them if they act in an inappropriate manner against the interests of the public. In fact, over the past four years, four ministers have been removed in this manner.
• The Auditor General reports to the Parliament annually. The reports are reviewed and scrutinized by the Public Accounts Committee, thereby allowing the Parliament to oversee government spending.
• The Ugandan Parliament has seventeen different committees to focus on important issue areas. They bring together members of the government and opposition.
• The use of "motions" to request that the Parliament debate particular issues of public concern promotes accountability and good governance. They can often be used to amend or terminate government policies. Uganda has also emplaced an official anti-corruption act.

• A code of conduct was initiated in Parliament, stipulating that parliamentarians declare all their assets prior to an election, and again following their terms in office, as well as all gifts.
• Judicial mechanisms were created to hold the judiciary to account.

• International organizations should recognize the importance of parliaments in curbing corruption, and their capacity-building programs should focus on parliaments, rather than on the executive as they currently do.
• Members of parliament need support since legislators and committees without sufficient competent staff are at the mercy of the executive.
• Oversight functions of parliament should be strengthened. Public accounts committees should carefully scrutinize all Auditor general reports and hold executives to account for discrepancies. Public accounts committees should also make these reports accessible to all parliamentarians, members of civil society, and the media. Auditors general should be independent from the executive.
• Parliamentarians should reform their image. In most countries, they are perceived as being inherently corrupt, which affects their legitimacy as corruption fighters and undermines parliaments' ability to curb corruption. As institutions, parliaments are respected, but members of parliament often are not. Parliamentarians should educate constituents about their legitimate roles.
• Oppositions should be strengthened since they play important roles in promoting good governance by ensuring that governments are accountable to the population and transparent in their actions.
• Codes of conduct are important. They should be established or strengthened as mechanisms for monitoring and regulating the conduct of members of parliament and the executive.
• Corrupt activities must have legal consequences. A Hungarian MP noted the importance of parliamentarians taking the lead in developing these codes. Open and transparent application of codes of conduct not only clearly establish guidelines for parliamentarians and the executive, but also educate constituents on the responsibilities of their representatives.
• Freedom of information is essential to hold government to account. Free media is key to making any misspending or corrupt activity public knowledge. New information technology provides more efficient ways to increase access to information and "e-governance" would permit government decisions and activities to be documented instantaneously on the Internet.
• The electoral process has become a major area of corruption. Regulations of campaign finance should be seriously reviewed and revised, therefore, to maintain the integrity of the electoral process and to provide balance in electoral races.
• International financial institutions (IFIs) should create a set of international standards to help curb corruption. In most cases, acts of corruption by the government are not taken into consideration when IFIs approve loans. This can be attributed largely to the idea that IFI's are captive of their shareholders, the governments of the loan recipient countries. Generally, IFIs focus on the government in question when providing support, not on the concerns of the opposition party, for instance, which represents a sizeable portion of society. Certain IFIs are now adopting loan practices to include anti-corruption strategies. A new convention on international banking transparency is also needed to regulate government transfers of public funds to private, foreign bank accounts.
• Members of parliament need to work together. Participants agreed that a Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) should be established. GOPAC would aim to build an international network of parliamentarians, organized on a regional basis, to fight corruption and promote good governance.