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30 January-1 February 2024 - In order to strengthen the development of a culture of ethics and integrity and to reduce corruption risks in border control units in the Dominican Republic, CRIMJUST delivered an ethics and integrity training in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, between 30 January and 1 February 2024.
The threat of corruption remains a key challenge in the Caribbean. Corruption is a key facilitator of illicit trafficking: not only does it allow organized crime groups to evade detection and prosecution by law enforcement, but it undermines the authority of the State and its ability to govern effectively and legitimately, contributing to weak institutions and fragile governance structures. A climate of strong institutional integrity, coupled with the establishment of effective accountability mechanisms within law enforcement agencies, is essential to ensure sustainable and fair criminal justice responses. Therefore, UNODC works actively in initiatives to prevent and combat corruption, recognizing its negative impact on institutional integrity.
One of UNODC's main objectives under the CRIMJUST programme is to support beneficiary countries in their efforts to combat organized crime along illicit trafficking routes. CRIMJUST therefore aims to strengthen transnational investigations, criminal justice actions and international cooperation. Success in the fight against organized crime requires strong, solid and integral law enforcement institutions.
In order to strengthen the application of ethics and integrity standards in border control units in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), from 30 January through 1st February 2024, CRIMJUST joined efforts with AIRCOP (Airport Communications Project), CCP (Container Control Program), SEACOP (Port-to-Port Cooperation Program) and COLIBRI (General Aviation Monitoring and Control) to provide an ethics and integrity training in the Dominican Republic.
The Director General of the General Directorate of Ethics and Government Integrity (DIGEIG), Dr. Milagros Ortiz Bosch, and the Ambassador of the European Union to the Dominican republic, Katja Afheldt, joined the session.
The workshop was held in cooperation with the experts Alberto Arean Varela from the UNODC Country Office in the Dominican Republic and Guglielmo Castaldo and Alvina Mangandi De Perdomo from the UNODC Regional Anti-Corruption Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Mexico. Through this Hub, UNODC assists States' efforts to prevent and combat corruption in line with the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), responding to requests for guidance, technical support and capacity building, fostering coordination and synergies with other regional anti-corruption initiatives. This activity also responds to the commitments made by the countries that make up the Regional Platform to Accelerate the Implementation of the UNCAC in Central America (which includes the Dominican Republic), expressed in the roadmap adopted in Roatan, Honduras, in April 2023.
Border control authorities have a fundamental role in the fight against organized crime and a correspondingly high responsibility in upholding ethical standards. The training addressed topics such as the role of law enforcement agencies in society, border vulnerabilities, and the identification and management of corruption risks in border management in order to encourage critical reflections on the role of integrity as part of the job, specific challenges in border management, and an improved understanding of how to recognize and respond to integrity threats, thereby reducing the risk of corruption in the conduction of operations.
CRIMJUST III is funded by the European Union under the Global Illicit Flows Programme. It seeks to enhance law enforcement and judicial counter-narcotic strategies beyond interdiction activities and to foster transnational responses targeting each stage of the drug supply chain.
More information can be found at:
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- Global Illicit Flows Programme
