CORRUPTION

International Affairs Forum Fall 2016
Interview with Dr. Julio Bacio Terracino
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
“Corruption” has been defined in a number of
ways and, ‘on the ground’ the definition may
vary from country to country. How would you
define it?
I would not dare to provide a definition.
Corruption changes between societies and even
within a society in different time periods. I value
the approach taken with the UN Convention
against Corruption, which in fact does not
provide a definition, but lists all the possible acts
that may be considered corruption. It is then
up to countries to define, through their legal
frameworks, what they consider corruption in
their particular contexts.
What roles and influences does the OECD
provide regarding anti-corruption efforts?
The OECD has been playing a major role in anticorruption
efforts for more than two decades.
The data and policy lessons developed by the
OECD regularly inform national anti-corruption
policies and practices. The OECD countries have
developed a wealth of anti-corruption knowledge
that they share among themselves, as well as
with non-members to learn from each other and
avoid reinventing the wheel and making similar
mistakes. Most importantly, the OECD, with its
more than 200 committees, has the capacity of
linking anti-corruption discussions to other policy
issues. This is how corruption takes place in the
real world, not in an isolated way, but always in
connection to a contract, a license, or in a sector
such as health, etc. All this, in addition to the
OECD convention on the bribery of foreign public
officials in which the OECD literally changed the
rules of the game.
Would you briefly explain the correlation
between corruption and human rights?
On this front, there are some interesting
discussions, such as whether there is a right
to a corruption-free society, or whether we
need an international court against so-called,
grand corruption. I would not go this far, but the
correlation between corruption and human rights
is there and straightforward. Plain and simple,
corruption has a detrimental impact on human
rights. When funds for health or education
disappear due to corrupt deals, the human right
to health and education may be impaired. The
same can be applied potentially to all human
When funds for health or education disappear due to corrupt
deals, the human right to health and education may be impaired.
The same can be applied potentially to all human rights if
countries do not ensure peoples’ enjoyment of human rights due
to corruption.
Fall 2016
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