The Inter-American Convention against Corruption, adopted in
March, 1996, in Caracas, Venezuela, is the first legal instrument in this field
which recognizes the international reach of corruption and the need to promote
and facilitate cooperation between states in order to fight against it.
The purposes of the Convention are:
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To promote and strengthen the
development by each of the States Parties of the mechanisms needed to prevent,
detect, punish and eradicate corruption.
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To promote, facilitate and
regulate cooperation among the States Parties to ensure the effectiveness of
the measures and actions to prevent, detect, punish and eradicate corruption
in the performance of public functions and acts of corruption specifically
related to such performance.
This Convention establishes a set of preventive measures;
provides for the criminalization of certain acts of corruption, including
transnational bribery and illicit enrichment; and contains a series of
provisions to strengthen the cooperation between its States Parties in areas
such as mutual legal assistance and technical cooperation, extradition and
identification, tracing, freezing, seizure and forfeiture of property or
proceeds obtained, derived from or used in the commission of acts of corruption,
among others.
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