Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia have made little progress in the past year adopting or implementing anti-corruption measures, Transparency International has said, calling on the three countries to introduce greater transparency and accountability in all areas of government.

TI’s latest assessment reports, released on Wednesday, focus on reforms in the judiciary and in the public sector and assess whether each country is complying with international anti-corruption conventions and implementing recommendations made by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Council of Europe body that monitors anti-corruption efforts.

The TI reports show that there has been some improvement in Georgia with the introduction of an electronic procurement system but neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia has successfully implemented anti-corruption reforms. However, in Azerbaijan, which has seen significant street protests, in early 2011 there was a new wave of legislation.

"These new reports show that not enough is being done," Jana Mittermaier, head of TI’s Liaison Office to the European Union, alleged. "Countries in the region should move quickly to strengthen anti-corruption policies and good governance. They should take note that citizens are no longer willing to be passive spectators; they are increasingly showing that they are tired of mismanagement and corruption."

In its key findings on Azerbaijan, TI claimed the justice sector suffers from weak enforcement, lack of transparency and limited independence as the executive branch exerts strong control over judicial appointments. The civil service has made some progress regarding recruitment of young professionals and has increased the ethics and integrity training but lack of managerial skills continues to weaken the public sector. The government introduced a new financial intelligence unit, and in early 2011 it introduced a series of anti-bribery laws in the penal code aimed at quelling dissent and regaining citizen trust, the report said.

Azerbaijan ranked 134th among 178 countries in TI’s latest report on corruption.

In neighboring Georgia, TI said, insufficient independence of the judiciary and the civil service is a key factor weakening good governance potential. Especially in the civil service, high politicization remains a major stumbling block, although some progress in technical areas looks promising, such as the recent adoption of an electronic procurement system, the report said. It said that for Georgia to continue making progress in its fight against corruption it must improve transparency and impartiality in both its laws and their enforcement.

In its assessment of Armenia, TI notes only little change throughout 2010, particularly in the areas concerning judicial reform and civil service administration, which are seen to lack independence and transparency and in the case of the civil service administration is highly politicized. It said some progress has been made, in particular, the adoption of guidelines for the detection of corruption offences, the abolition of parliamentary immunity and a way to handle complaints about breaches of ethical rules within the public administration. However, in all three areas implementation remains the main challenge.