International Anti-Corruption Academy
AbbreviationIACA
Founded atVienna, Austria
HeadquartersLaxenburg, Austria
Members
76 states
4 international organizations
Dean and Executive Secretary
Thomas Stelzer
Websitewww.iaca.int

The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is an international intergovernmental organization[1] based in Laxenburg, Austria that teaches government officials and professionals[2] about anti-corruption measures.[3] Membership to the organization is, without a mandatory membership fee,[4] open to UN-member states and intergovernmental organizations.

History

The process of creating an International organization focusing on anti-Corruption education dates back to the year 2005, when an Interpol-working group started to discuss such endeavor[5] and was firstly raised publicly in 2006 at an Interpol General Assembly.[6]

IACA was launched in 2010 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Interpol, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Republic of Austria, and other stake-holders to help implement the UN Convention against Corruption.[7] On March 8, 2011, IACA gained the status of an international organization.[6][8] As of 2013, 61 countries had signed the IACA membership agreement, and 38 of those had ratified it.[5] Since the accession of Kenya to the IACA in August 2020, the organisation has 80 members, including four intergovernmental organizations and 76 UN member states.[9][10]

Display of flags of IACA's membership at its Laxenburg headquarters

Organization

Educational program

IACA is recognized as an institution for post-graduate education by the Austrian ministry of Science, Research and Economy and is subsequently entitled to offer post-graduate education under the framework of the Bologna process.[11] It started its first Masters program in February 2013; at that time the coursework was run in seven twelve-day blocks, taken over two years.[5]

IACA offers four Masters programs, three of them are offered in English, while one program is conducted in Spanish. IACA's approach towards its Masters programs is described as holistic by the OSCE and the research portal of the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance.[6][8] El Mundo reported that the studies are designed to be interdisciplinary and have a practical dimension.[12] In 2018 there were approximately 1,600 alumni.[13]

Finances

The Austrian news magazine, News, reported that IACA posted a budget of €12.98 million for the 2014 financial year and a budget of €13.24 million for 2015; while noting that the actual revenues for 2013 were €2.3 million and expenditures were around €2.1 million.[4] IACA told the News that the higher numbers were based on their fund-raising goals.[4] At the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 IACA underwent a turnover in staff.[4]

During IACA's seventh Assembly of Parties in September 2018, Eduardo Vetere, the chairman of IACA's Board of Governors, referred to an external auditor's report which concluded that IACA was in danger of insolvency.[14] A working group was set up in December 2018 to restructure the income situation and generate membership contributions.[15] The Austrian government made a contribution of €544,000 in December 2018.[16]

Leadership

IACA is headed by its dean, who also serves as the executive secretary of the organization. Martin Kreutner served from IACA's creation in March 2011 to the end of January 2019 as IACA's first dean.[16] The position remained vacant and was taken over by Christiane Pohn-Hufnagel, the organizations Chief of Staff and Head of General Services, in an acting capacity. On March 2, 2020 Thomas Stelzer took office as IACA's new dean and executive secretary. His initial term is limited to four years and might be extended.[17]

Relationships with member countries

IACA's relations with Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation were criticized after IACA held its 2014 annual conference in Baku at the time of a governmental crackdown on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and anti-corruption activists.[18] According to Correctiv, one of the students at IACA was an Azerbaijani public prosecutor, who worked for the investigating authority that was prosecuting the Azerbaijani anti-corruption activist and journalist Khadija Ismayilova.[18]

Another international controversy that was discussed within IACA occurred in 2012, when tensions arose as the representative of Syria stressed that, notwithstanding the election of the Israeli Mordechai Kremnitzer to IACA's board of governors, his government did not accept Israel's right of existence. The comment was rebuked by the Israeli ambassador in a fashion that was described as breaching the diplomatic protocol.[19]

Past and current lecturers

See also

References

  1. ↑ Schermers, Henry G.; Blokker, Niels M. (2011). International institutional law : unity within diversity (5th ed.). Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 30. ISBN 9789004187962. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  2. ↑ "To check Corruption in India, CVC trains officials in Europe". The Economic Times. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  3. ↑ Fletcher, Clare; Herrmann, Daniela (2012). The internationalisation of corruption : scale, impact and countermeasures. Gower. p. 2. ISBN 9781409411291.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Melichar, Stefan (16 February 2016). "Das Luftschloss: Über die Internationale Anti-Korruptionsakademie". News.at (in German). Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  5. 1 2 3 Gottsauner-Wolf, Moritz; Zotter, Christoph (31 January 2013). "Wo die Korruptionsjäger büffeln" (in German). Die Zeit. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  6. 1 2 3 Adrian, Jean-François (June 2013). "Austria's International Anti-Corruption Academy" (PDF). Responsive Public Management. 55. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  7. ↑ "Press release: UK backs new corruption-fighting academy - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. 3 September 2010.
  8. 1 2 OSCE Handbook on Combating Corruption. OSCE. 2016. p. 24. ISBN 9789292341923. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  9. ↑ "Kenya Joins IACA" (Press release). International Anti-Corruption Academy. 10 August 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  10. ↑ "List of parties and signatories". International Anti-Corruption Academy. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  11. ↑ "International Anti-Corruption Academy, Laxenburg" (PDF). bmbwf.gv.at. Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research of the Republic of Austria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-05-10. Retrieved 2019-05-10.
  12. ↑ Santivañez, Martin (17 May 2013). "IACA, la academia internacional anticorrupción" (in Spanish). El Mundo. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  13. ↑ Puchleitner, Klaus (2018). "Wien, Hauptstadt der Korruptionsbekämpfung / Vienna, capital in fighting corruption". Cercle Diplomatique (in German and English). No. 3. pp. 72–75. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  14. ↑ "Report of the Chairperson of the Board of Governors" (PDF). International Anti-Corruption Academy. 27 September 2018. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  15. ↑ Melichar, Stefan (3 December 2018). "Anti-Korruptionsakademie droht Pleite" (in German). Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  16. 1 2 Bachner, Michael (16 January 2019). "Chef verlässt internationale Anti-Korruptions-Akademie" (in German). Kurier. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  17. ↑ "Diplomat Stelzer neuer Chef der Antikorruptionsakademie" (in German). orf.at. 9 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  18. 1 2 Richter, Frederik (29 June 2017). "How the Siemens bribery settlement funds opacity". Correct!V. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  19. ↑ Ahren, Raphael (4 December 2014). "Frankly, Syria, we don't give a damn". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
  20. ↑ "Faculty". iaca.int. International Anti-Corruption Academy. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
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