Tackling Corruption in the Pacific

Tackling Corruption Will Support Achievement of MDGs: Samoan Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sailele

PRESS RELEASES:
20 July 2010
[Apia, 19 July 2010] “Resources lost to corruption are resources lost to the poor. This in turn slows the progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.”

These comments were made by the Samoan Prime Minister, Hon. Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi, who today officially opened a four day awareness-raising and information-sharing meeting on the ratification and implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) in the Pacific region.

The meeting is attended by senior government officials from fourteen countries - Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Marshall Islands, New Zealand and Australia - and officials from the World Bank Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Commonwealth Pacific Governance Facility, European Union, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country offices and regional centre, and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

“Samoa, like all of your countries, has committed to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. My Government is well aware that to achieve the MDGs it will be necessary to bring to bear all of our nation’s resources,” said the Prime Minister.

“In Samoa, we have prioritised developing a clean, transparent and effective public service as a foundation-stone of our commitment to sustainable national development,” he said. Samoa has passed two pieces of legislation to support this: the Public Bodies (Performance and Accountability) Act 2001 and the Public Finance Management Act 2001.

“Tackling corruption, at all levels of government, is a key towards meeting the national development goals that Samoa has set for itself,” he said. The Prime Minister specifically noted that the United Nations Convention Against Corruption is a useful tool that can assist Pacific Island countries to ensure that they comprehensively tackle corruption, in all its forms, in a coordinated way.

The meeting, hosted by the Government of Samoa and organized by UNDP Pacific Centre in partnership with UNODC and with support from AusAID, will be an avenue to exchange experiences in fighting corruption and in the ratification and implementation of UNCAC in the Pacific. So far, UNCAC has been ratified by three Pacific Island Countries – Fiji, Palau and Papua New Guinea.

Speaking at the meeting the UN Resident Coordinator in Samoa, Ms. Nileema Noble said that corruption reflects a democracy, human rights and governance deficit that negatively impacts on poverty and human security. This makes it an area of crucial importance in our region.

“Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, hinders economic development, undermines state accountability and capacity to provide equitable and responsive public services, and diverts investments from infrastructure, institutions and social services,” Ms Noble said.

The regional meeting, which ends on 22 July, will provide the senior government officials with a thorough overview of UNCAC pre-ratification requirements. It will also provide an opportunity to support Pacific States to assess the value of UNCAC as a guiding framework which can strengthen their national anti-corruption efforts. The meeting will also hear about the newly endorsed Mechanism to Review the Implementation of the Convention, and benefits of ratification in particular as regards preferential access to technical assistance.

ENDS

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