In order to strengthen the administrative investigations process related to internal affairs within some Customs administrations, the WCO Regional Training Centre in Mauritius, the Mauritius Revenue Authority and the WCO Anti-Corruption and Promotion of Integrity (A-CIP) joined their efforts to organize and conduct a capacity building workshop which brought together, from October 23 to 27, a group of 26 Customs officials from nine French-speaking administrations: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Seychelles and Tunisia.
The workshop aimed to strengthen three critical internal affairs components: corruption, misconduct or malpractice reporting; administrative investigations and discipline. Among the activities carried out during the workshop, it is worth mentioning the appropriation of knowledge and competencies through theory, case studies and scenarios.
With the support of the A-CPI Programme regarding the preparation and facilitation, the Mauritius Revenue Authority made available a team of four WCO internal affairs recognized experts who were instrumental to the success of this initiative.
During the workshop, the trainers emphasized the importance of transparency, rigour and objectivity in the conduct of investigations, as well as the respect for the individual rights of both the complainant (confidentiality and protection) and the official subject to the allegations (presumption of innocence).
In order to consolidate the training and ensure its application in the workplace, participants recommended building a community of practice around the administrative investigation process and the integrity approach.
The WCO A-CIP Programme supports more than 20 countries across five WCO regions, with funding from Norad and Canada. For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.