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opinionAlso in this section: The Anti-Corruption Conventions by Miguel Antonio Bernal Almost seven years ago, on July 1, 1998, the Legislative Assembly of that time approved by way of Law 42 (Gaceta Oficial Number 23,581) the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, which was signed in Caracas on March 29, 1996. So far neither the courts, nor the Public Ministry nor the Comptroller General of the Republic have applied this law. Now, approved on third reading by the National Assembly this past April 14, but not published in the Gaceta Oficial until May 11 in Number 25,296 as Law 15 of May 10, 2005, the United Nations Convention Against Corruption --- which had been adopted in New York on October 31, 2003 --- was approved. How many years will we have to wait until the citizens know and the authorities apply this new law? At the start of this year I wrote that "It's well demonstrated that it's corruption in the justice system that most affects human rights and civil liberties. A judicial system that's not impartial but is corrupt, which limits access to rapid and effective justice, like that which prevails in Panama, which complacently fosters impunity for those who violate human rightsa and for those who promote and practice corruption, and moreover which foments a culture in which violators past, present and future go on discrediting the rule of law, is what announces to us a very difficult and corrupt 2005 with respect to impunity, which is itself a form of corruption, which is the basic tool to destroy the confidence that society can aspire to have in democratic institutions. How can those who directly or indirectly practice corruption, either by act or by omission, make us believe that they will do justice? "In 2005 we find in Panama a field that's more than just fertilized to grow acts of corruption. Our democracy continues to be fragile thanks to corruption. To fight corruption and respect human rights and civil liberties are complementary goals. Democracy nourishes itself in the fight against corruption, as oppression is fought with the struggle against silence." Thus we citizens must demand that the 71 articles of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which are compiled into eight chapters, be publicized so that they can be known, respected and applied. We must not, as a state that's a part of the international community, keep on ratifying and thus adopting as laws of the republic, endless accords, pacts, conventions, treaties and other international agreements without adapting our legislation to their contents. We can't allow the functionaries of the courts, the Public Ministry, the Comptroller General and the National Ombudsman continue their non-recognition of important legal instruments that are efficacious tools in the struggle against the corruption that every day corrodes our society more. The UN Convention's goal is to "promote and strengthen the means to prevent and more effectively and efficiently combat corruption; to promote facilitate and support international cooperation and technical assistance in the prevention and struggle against corruption, including the recovery of assets; to promote integrity and the obligations to render accounts and to duly manage public affairs and property." Some of the provisions in the text are a code of conduct for public employees; appropriate systems for public contracting and management of public funds; public information; public participation; measures to prevent money laundering; bribery; influence peddling; illicit enrichment; bribery, embezzlement or theft in the private sector; cover-ups; obstruction of justice; protection of witnesses, investigators and victims; the recovery of assets and property --- these are some of the particulars of a document whose Article 5 establishes that every signatory state "will formulate and apply or maintain in effect coordinated and effective policies against corruption which promote the participation of society and reflect the principles of the rule of law, the due management of public affairs and public property, integrity, transparency and accountability." Curiously, there is not one article in the new Organic Law on Social Security that contemplates measures "to prevent and more effectively combat corruption" in the Social Fund. It's authentic proof that the government's true intention with respect to the Social Security Fund: to modernize and maintain the corruption of their petty cash box, of their traditional spoils.
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