A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

Section v. corruption
Corruption, both real and perceived, has undermined the confidence of many Liberians in their
government and other public and private institutions. The Government of Liberia has made combating
corruption one of its top priorities. It must maintain vigilance in this regard in order to rebuild the
confidence of Liberians inside and outside of Liberia.
The Government of Liberia is a state party to the U.N. Convention against Corruption 292 and
the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. 293 Accordingly, the
Government of Liberia is obligated to implement the provisions of these treaties, specifically ensuring
the existence of an independent body, such as the newly established Anti-Corruption Commission,
to oversee domestic implementation of the Conventions in the areas of conduct of public officials,
public procurement, the judiciary, and prosecutors, as well as in the private sector. The Advocates
recommends the following:
• The Government of Liberia should
provide the U.N. Conference of
the States Parties with information
on its programs, plans, and
practices, as well as on legislative
and administrative measures to
implement the U.N. Convention
against Corruption. 294
• The Government of Liberia
should encourage the development
of procedures for accreditation
and active participation of relevant
non-governmental organizations
in the U.N. Convention against
Corruption Conference of the
States Parties. 295
• The Government of Liberia should
cooperate fully with the A.U.
Advisory Board on Corruption. 297
In addition to these core treaties, relevant non-governmental organization and civil society monitoring
reports provide a guiding framework in combating corruption. The Advocates recommends the
following:
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Chapter Fourteen
Potential Implementation Strategy:
2004 Global Corruption Report
In seeking to reduce corruption in the political sphere,
the Government of Liberia may wish to consider
the following strategies put forth in the 2004 Global
Corruption Report:
1. Disclosure is one of the best methods to track
corruption. The capacity to generate an audit trail is
invaluable to both deterrence and accountability.
2. Enforcing asset disclosure laws is another means of
countering the misuse of funds, as well as to facilitate
and aid the work of enforcement bodies.
3. The Government of Liberia should aim for total rather
than partial disclosure. Poor data quality or inconsistent
interpretations thereof, limited access to data, and low
quantity data constitute examples of partial disclosure
and are to be avoided. 296