From 2016-2021, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative’s (ABA ROLI) Regional Anti-Corruption Advisor (RACA) program built on its experience supporting the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), its longstanding support of the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative, and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to engage several priority jurisdictions: Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Papua New Guinea. To meet ABA ROLI’s goal of combatting corruption in the Southeast Asian region, the RACA program built a sense of regional “ownership” by working with local partners such as the Thai National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the Philippines Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the Anti-Corruption Commission of Myanmar, the Lao PDR State Inspection and Anti-Corruption Authority (SIAA), and ASEAN-PAC. This promoted reforms modelled on the FCPA through multilateral processes that states in the region have helped to shape themselves, rather than having a process imposed on them from the outside. RACA identified and met capacity building and technical assistance needs and opportunities in target countries under several thematic areas: law enforcement integrity, youth integrity, private sector anti-bribery, open-source intelligence, income and asset disclosure and conflict of interest, intelligence-led case-based financial investigation, transnational crime including human trafficking, wildlife trafficking, and resource extraction crime, and other general anti-corruption areas. The RACA program strengthened cooperation between governments, civil society, the private sector, and international organizations, to prevent and combat corruption and associated transnational crime in the region. The program was funded by the US Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.
Regional Anti-Corruption Program
In the final program year, through an introduction by UNODC, ABA ROLI held consultations with the Laos State Inspection and Anti-Corruption Agency (SIAA), leading to our hosting a series of workshops on financial investigation and whistleblower protections, an International Anti-Corruption Day event for civil society, and a youth integrity workshop. The youth integrity workshop engaged youth with government toward common goals and in a constructive manner without naming and shaming, and instead focusing on behaviors rather than individuals. Participants also noted that the structured thinking exemplified in the Youth Integrity Workbook advanced their general strategic and operational thinking skills, giving them the tools necessary to design effective projects on any topic. Through ABA ROLI’s relationship, Lao PDR accepted US technical assistance in this area for the first time and welcomed the Ambassador and other officials to address and participate in training events.
Our interactions with Vietnam's representatives were likewise encouraging for US engagement. In the final two years of the project, ABA ROLI, the State Inspectorate of Vietnam, and the State Bank of Vietnam regularly met to plan a private sector anti-bribery training. We also worked with the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics to plan a general anti-corruption event.