OECD urges Ukraine to put anti-corruption declarations into actions
Ukraine has made little progress in tackling corruption over the past four years, despite regular pledges from the country’s leaders to take action, according to a new OECD report. Ukraine must urgently put in place anti-corruption laws to meet its international obligations and show greater political will to fight corruption, the OECD said.
The OECD has reviewed Ukraine’s efforts to fight corruption as part of its Eastern European and Central Asian initiative, called the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan.
The review recommends that Ukraine:
• Adopt fundamental anti-corruption legislation to bring Ukraine in compliance with international standards and obligations;
• Strengthen public institutions responsible for tackling corruption and establish a dedicated anti-corruption investigative body with specialist prosecutors;
• Reform legislation relating to integrity of civil service and conflict of interest, and promote its implementation;
• Review the system of control of political party financing to ensure its transparency;
• Further develop public dialogue, particularly with business, in the fight against corruption.
This report commends Ukraine on progress made in the following areas:
• A new law on public procurement improved the institutional set-up but further measures are needed to prevent corruption and conflict of interest in public procurement;
• The recently adopted law on judiciary improved the legal framework to guarantee independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
The IAP is an initiative launched in 2003 to support anti-corruption reform efforts in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan , Ukraine and Uzbekistan as part of the OECD Working Group on Bribery outreach work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The full report and recommendations on Ukraine are available here, as well as new reports on Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.