From 15-19 February, a virtual training workshop on internal control was organised by the WCO Anti-Corruption & Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme in response to specific needs identified by the GRA.

In this regard, a GRA working group was mobilised to contribute to this virtual training workshop which consisted of three online sessions as well as intersessional work. More than fifteen officials holding key positions in areas such as Communication and Public Relations, Human Resources, Policy and Programmes, Operations, Ethics and Good Governance, Information Technology, Investigations, Audit and Training, attended the event facilitated by experts from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA).

Among the main takeaways from the discussions over the week were that integrity must be instilled into the staff from the outset and maintained throughout the entire official’s career using prevention, education, training and enforcement. It was agreed that public, clients, stakeholders, as well as staff must be able to report malpractice, misbehavior, abuse, lack of ethics or instances of corruption, to internal affairs, without any fear of reprisal or prejudice. To do so, reporting process must be clearly mapped and disseminated through different means. Proper set-up and clear definition of the role of internal affairs are paramount to the fight against corruption within the organization and administrations must constantly look within to see how they are doing when it comes to integrity.

During the closing remarks, both GRA and WCO acknowledged the importance of the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration, in particular the Audit and Investigation key factor, as a vehicle to combat corruption and promote integrity. Finally, all parties also shared their appreciation of Norad’s support to make these technical assistance and capacity building events possible.

For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org