Fighting Corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean at a Supranational Level: Balances and Challenges of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption

ABSTRACT The 1996 Inter-American Convention Against Corruption was the first treaty signed to tackle corruption at a transnational level. The Convention was adopted due to the increasing interest of the Organization of American States to protect democracy in the region, particularly against corruption and other vices of elected Governments. In that sense, the Convention promotes the convergence of national anti-corruption frameworks and international cooperation in transnational corruption cases. To improve its effectiveness, in 2001, the Organization created a Follow-up Mechanism based on consensual and technical cooperation. In 2016, a further step was adopted with the creation of the Mission to Support the Fight Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras, which was terminated in 2020 by the Honduran Government to protect national sovereignty. The Convention demonstrates that the greatest weakness of supranational responses to corruption is the lack of international enforcement mechanisms. To address this situation, the Organization of American States has created flexible instruments to supervise the fulfillment of the Convention based on the cooperation and collaboration of the states. However, the defenseof national sovereignty (due to the non-intervention principle) and the State's fragility to implement anti-corruption policies have created further challenges.