CONFERENCE ON PROMOTING ETHICS IN PUBLIC SERVICE IN BRASILIA 8-11 DECEMBER
Press Release
DEV/2178
CONFERENCE ON PROMOTING ETHICS IN PUBLIC SERVICE IN BRASILIA 8-11 DECEMBER
19971208 National Ethics Initiative, UN Efforts against Corruption; Role of Private Sector and Civil Society in Promoting Ethics among TopicsNEW YORK, 8 December (DESA) -- As part of a move worldwide to restore a measure of trust and integrity in public institutions and officials, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Brazil, have organized a colloquium on Promoting Ethics in the Public Service from 8 to 11 December in Brasilia.
The Council of State Reform and the Ministry of Federal Administration and State Reform of the Federal Republic of Brazil are co-sponsors of the event, which will welcome about 150 senior Brazilian public servants from both the federal and state levels.
The purpose of the forum is to discuss and make recommendations for launching a national ethics initiative in the public service. Brazilian President Enrique Cardoso will open the colloquium with a speech on State sector reform in Brazil. The Director of the United Nations Division for Governance, Public Administration and Finance, Guido Bertucci will describe: the United Nations General Assembly resolution on action against corruption; the currently proposed Code of Conduct for United Nations staff; and ethics- related work in public administration. The Minister for Federal Administration and State Reform, Bresser Pereira and the Vice-President of the Council of State Reform, Joao Piquet Carneiro, who will also serve as the rapporteur of the colloquium, will also be presenting during plenary sessions.
Other international speakers are being invited to enrich and broaden the discussion. Professor Gerald Caiden of the University of Southern California has prepared a background paper on public service values, which will be presented by Daisy de Asper Y Valdes of the Office of the Brazilian Senate. Sharing the Canadian experience of programme review and developments in public sector ethics will be the Canadian Ethics Counsellor, Howard Wilson, who reports directly to the Prime Minister. Describing a recent symposium on Ethics in the Public Sector and on the general work on ethics in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will be Janos
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Bertek of Public Management Service. The Deputy Director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, Gary Davis, will be speaking about the American experience in setting, communicating and enforcing ethical standards. A former Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and a founding member of Transparency International (U.K. Chapter), Peter Unwin, will discuss the role of private sector and civil society in promoting ethics through education, advocacy and public scrutiny.
The colloquium is part of a series organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with several partners. This year, the Department helped organize a conference with the Latin American Centre for Development Administration (CLAD) in Venezuela and was represented at the International Seminar on Ethics and Public Administration. It also helped organize a regional, high-level conference on Public Service in Transition: Enhancing Its Role, Professionalism and Ethical Standards and Values, which was co-sponsored by UNDP and hosted by the Government of Greece. This highly- visible event was attended by representatives from 22 countries of central and eastern Europe, as well as from several intergovernmental organizations. Next year, it plans to help organize the second Pan African Conference of Ministers in Public Service on Promoting Ethics in the Public Service in Africa, as well as one in Asia.
The series is in response to the recommendations of the thirteenth meeting of the Group of Experts on the United Nations Programme in Public Administration and Finance and in the spirit of resolution 50/225, adopted by the General Assembly during the fiftieth resumed session. The meeting concluded that public service as an institution ought to be reinforced in terms of both its competence and integrity and recommended that the United Nations work with its Member States to evaluate existing programmes, policies, regulations and legislation to promote professionalism and ethics in the public service. The resolution reaffirmed the vital importance of strengthening public administration for development and emphasized a need for United Nations cooperation in capacity-building in governance, public administration and finance.
The final report of the colloquium in Brasilia is intended to be presented to President Enrique Cardoso as a possible strategy for launching a national ethics initiative in the public service. The English version will be prepared under the auspices of the United Nations.
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