Global Courant 2023-04-26 07:47:24
The installation of the International Commission against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (Cicih) requires more political will so that its mandate is robust and independent, and that it be shielded so that it does not suffer the same fate as the former OAS Mission, warned this Expert Tuesday.
“There is a lack of more dialogue and more political will around the mandate” that the Cicih will have, whose mandate must be “robust to investigate serious acts of corruption, to be able to dismantle that structure of corruption and impunity,” the former Minister of Human Rights told EFE. in Honduras, Ana Pineda.
The anti-corruption mechanism must have “an independent mandate” and the ability to hire national and international personnel “committed to removing the structures of corruption and impunity” in the Central American country, he added.
Honduras and the UN sealed a memorandum of understanding on December 15 to begin the process of establishing the cicihone of the campaign promises of Honduran President Xiomara Castro, which she ratified when she took office on January 27, 2022.
INDEPENDENT COMMISSION
Honduras needs an “independent” Commission, stressed Pineda, who participated in a forum in which experts analyzed the obstacles and opportunities for the installation of the cicih.
He assured that if cicih“They are not going to be given the mandate to effectively and timely investigate the networks of corruption and impunity that exist, we are not going to have the results we hope for.”
Therefore, he urged Honduras and the United Nations to establish “a serious dialogue” based on the needs of the Central American country in the fight against corruption.
Given the high rates of corruption, according to Pineda, Honduras requires “political will” to combat this long-standing scourge in the country, and he urged the government and the UN to define the operating guidelines of the cicih.
It is necessary to decide “if it is a commission that only comes to provide cosmetic accompaniment, if it is a commission that in some way can only contribute to strengthening the capacities of the justice system, but will not come to investigate the large structures of corruption and impunity that underlie our country,” he added.
SHIELDING THE ANTICORRUPTION MECHANISM
The pro-government Honduran deputy Yahvé Sabillón considers that one of the main obstacles facing the Cicih is its financing.
“Some are in favor of the fact that it is a duty of our government to finance the entire mission, others say that such a poor country cannot and does not have the resources, because they are more than 500 million lempiras (about 20.4 million dollars)” Sabillón told EFE.
The dissident deputy from the Libertad y Refundación Party (Libre, in power) advocated “hybrid” financing and that the cicih is directed by a technical person “without any political and ideological bias, independent and who has no connection with our government or with any other government.”
The Commission “should come to investigate us all, not put years (of investigation), but rather have the broad power to investigate the years it wants without any type of restriction,” he stressed.
Sabillón sees “with pleasure” that in the next few days a UN exploratory mission may arrive in Honduras to advise the Government on the installation of the cicih However, the parliamentarian sees it necessary to “shield” the cicih so that it does not suffer the same fate as the now-defunct Mission to Support Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), which depended on the Organization of American States (OAS).
“It is necessary to shield it” against the “spheres of power” so that the Cicih “does not disappear” like the Maccih, whose second term, of four years, was not extended by the Honduran Parliament, in January 2020, he said. EFE
