DOC/w/14/rev.4
IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING CHART – COLOMBIA
1. Making Democracy Work Better
Electoral Processes and Procedures
Mandate: Share best practices and technologies with respect to increasing citizen participation in electoral processes, including voter education, the modernization and simplification of voter registration and the voting and counting process, while taking into account the need to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process and promoting the full participation and integration of all persons eligible to exercise the right to vote, without discrimination;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs /Timeline: /
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Continue to enhance electoral mechanisms, using information and communications technologies where possible, to effectively guarantee the impartiality, promptness and independent action of agencies, tribunals or other bodies responsible for the conduct, supervision and verification of elections at national and sub-national levels, and strengthen and facilitate, with the support of the Organization of American States (OAS) and other regional and international organizations, hemispheric cooperation and exchange of legislative and technological experiences in these areas, and the deployment of election observers when so requested;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs // Ministry of the Interior:
At the invitation of Colombia, an OAS Electoral Supervision and Monitoring Mission visited the country on the occasion of the Congressional elections of March 10, 2002, to guarantee the impartiality and independence of the ministries, courts, and other entities responsible for conducting, supervising, and verifying the electoral process at national and local levels. The mission indicated that the results of the parliamentary election process in Colombia were generally positive.
The OAS Supervision and Monitoring Mission announced that it would continue its work in Washington, by drafting a report to be submitted to the government during the week of March 11-15, 2002.
Through the National Registry Office, the Colombian government has been pursuing efforts to promote the political participation of a better-informed public and to increase voter participation, by disseminating information and establishing national institutional capacity in the electoral processes on its web site: www.registraduria.gov.co
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Convene under the auspices of the OAS, and with the collaboration of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), meetings of experts to examine in more depth issues such as: political party registration, access of political parties to funding and to the media, campaign financing, oversight and dissemination of election results and relations of political parties with other sectors of society;
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/ Timeline:Transparency and good governance
Mandate: Promote cooperation among national agencies in the Hemisphere charged with the development and maintenance of procedures and practices for the preparation, presentation, auditing and oversight of public accounts, with technical assistance where appropriate from multilateral organizations and multilateral development banks (MDBs), and support exchanges of information on oversight activities related to the collection, allocation and expenditure of public funds;
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Encourage cooperation and exchange of experiences and best parliamentary practices between national legislators of the Hemisphere, while respecting the separation and balance of powers, through bilateral, subregional and hemispheric vehicles such as the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA);
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Work jointly to facilitate cooperation among national institutions with the responsibility to guarantee the protection, promotion and respect of human rights, and access to and freedom of information, with the aim of developing best practices to improve the administration of information held by governments on individuals and facilitating citizen access to that information;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs /Timeline: /
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Create and implement programs with the technical and financial support, where appropriate, of multilateral organizations and MDBs, to facilitate public participation and transparency, using information and communications technologies where applicable, in decision-making processes and in the delivery of government services, and to publish information within time-limits established by national legislation at all levels of government;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs // Ministry of the Interior:
Colombia has a Best Management Program for its departments, which is a cooperation program involving initiatives to improve management of local entities, by achieving a new culture of public administration, improving the quality of life, and promoting development and democracy. In this context, it adjusts, implements, and evaluates development plans to ensure that departmental leaders achieve concrete results in the areas of planning, administration, financial management and municipal development, with the participation of civil society throughout.
The PMGD has determined specific lines of action to assist departments in their efforts to coordinate their work with municipalities, such as improving public services, ensuring a consistency between planning and finance, and promoting a strategic view linked to the economic and social development of the region, to generate well-being, opportunities, and growth.
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/ Timeline:Media and Communications
Mandate: Ensure the media is free from arbitrary interventions by the state, and specifically, work to remove legal or regulatory impediments to media access by registered political parties including by facilitating, where possible, equitable access during election campaigns to television and radio;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs /Timeline: /
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Encourage cooperation among public and private broadcasters, including cable operators, and independent broadcast regulatory bodies and governmental organizations, in order to facilitate the exchange of best industry practices and technologies at the hemispheric level, to guarantee free, open and independent media;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs /Timeline: /
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Encourage media self-regulation efforts, including norms of ethical conduct, to address the concerns of civil society with regard to, inter alia, reducing the dissemination of extreme violence and negative stereotypes of women and ethnic, social and other groups, contributing in this way to the promotion of changes in attitudes and cultural patterns through the projection of pluralistic, balanced and non-discriminatory images;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs /Timeline: /
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/ Timeline:Fight Against Corruption
Mandate: Consider signing and ratifying, ratifying, or acceding to, as soon as possible and as the case may be, the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, in accordance with their respective legal frameworks, and promote effective implementation of the Convention by means of, inter alia, the Inter-American Program for Cooperation in the Fight Against Corruption and associated technical cooperation programs and activities, including those of relevant multilateral organizations and MDBs, in the area of good governance and in the fight against corruption, as well as programs which each country designs and implements in accordance with national laws, by its own appropriate bodies that may require assistance;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs // Presidential Program against Corruption:
The Inter-American Convention against Corruption was adopted by Law 412 of 1997, and the instrument of ratification was deposited on January 19, 1999. It is currently supported by the follow-up mechanism.
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Support the establishment as soon as possible, taking into consideration the recommendation of the OAS, of a follow-up mechanism for the implementation of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption by States Parties to this instrument;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs /Timeline: /
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Support strengthening the Inter-American Network of Institutions and Experts in the Fight Against Corruption in the context of the OAS, as well as initiatives aimed at strengthening cooperation among ethics officials and members of civil society;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs // Presidential Program against Corruption:
The present administration created the Presidential Program against Corruption, whose key objective is to coordinate both implementation of government initiatives and the coordination of those initiatives with those carried out by regulatory agencies and civil society.
The policy is based on two lines of action, namely, prevention and strengthening of controls and sanctions. To implement it, the President of the Republic issued Presidential Directive No. 09 of 1999. This year anti-corruption policies are being implemented on a local level.
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Strengthen, in cooperation with multilateral organizations and MDBs, where appropriate, the participation of civil society in the fight against corruption, by means of initiatives that promote the organization, training and linkage of citizens groups in the context of concrete projects which promote transparency and accountability in governance;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs // Presidential Program against Corruption: The participation of civil society is being strengthened, in cooperation with the following multilateral banks and organizations:
UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION (UN) – Project on “Strengthening Local Government Institutions in the Fight against Corruption;” one of the objectives of this project is to strengthen citizen participation for effective social control.
WORLD BANK: - A survey was conducted in 2001 to provide a reliable basis for orienting and formulating anti-corruption policies. Representatives of civil society participated in preparing and carrying out the survey. This is an input for building a National Anti-Corruption Alliance, with participants representing the public and private sectors.
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (UNDP) – The Colombian website www.gobiernoenlinea.gov.co was created for this project, so that citizens would have access to complete, reliable, relevant information on all public entities. The “transparency covenants” strategy was also developed through this project, in an effort to generate channels of communication between local government and citizens, to enhance accountability.
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Continue to promote policies, processes and mechanisms that protect the public interest, the use of disclosure of assets mechanisms for public officials in order to avoid possible conflicts of interest and incompatibilities, as well as other measures that increase transparency;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs // Presidential Program against Corruption: Declaration of assets of public functionaries: Article 122, paragraph 3 of the Political Constitution establishes this obligation. Law 190 of 1995, or the Anti-Corruption Statute, further develops this provision.
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/ Timeline:Empowering local governments
Mandate: Promote mechanisms to facilitate citizen participation in politics, especially in local or municipal government;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs // Ministry of the Interior:
Through its Ministry of the Interior, Colombia has implemented the National Municipal Training System, a project whose activities are designed to strengthen the self-management capacity of Colombian municipalities, thereby improving the effectiveness of services administered and encouraging civic participation in the decision-making process, by establishing mechanisms to guarantee a transparent management process. It seeks to develop the training system in local management, project management, municipal finance, governance, rules and regulations, and the environment.
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Promote the development, autonomy and institutional strengthening of local government in order to promote favorable conditions for the sustainable economic and social development of their communities;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs /Timeline: /
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Strengthen the institutional capacity of local governments to allow full and equal citizen participation in public policies without any discrimination, facilitate access to those services fundamental to improving citizens’ quality of life, and strengthen decentralization and the integral development of these services in part through commensurate and timely funding and initiatives that permit local governments to generate and administer their own resources;
Actions – Hemispheric Level / Actions – Regional Level / Actions – National Level / Funding / Obstacles and/or Best Practices and/or Special Needs // Ministry of the Interior:
Improve the municipal information and documentation system, raise the national level of graduate studies in management and local development, promote equitable participation in the decentralization process, and strengthen the Colombian Federation of Municipalities.
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/ Timeline:Mandate: Promote sharing of information, best practices and administrative expertise among local government personnel, associations of local governments, community associations and the public, in part by facilitating access to information and communications technologies by municipalities and by encouraging cooperation and coordination among national, subregional and regional organizations of mayors and local government;