Brazil Accession to the OECD: Organization Should Secure Civil Society Contribution and not Neglect Serious Antidemocratic Acts - 07/19/22

By Bruno Brandão

Last June, in the context of dismantling public policies regarding the environment, corruption, human rights and democratic governance, Brazil had its roadmap for accession to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) approved by the body’s Ministerial Council. This was a missed opportunity to summon civil society and secure non-state actors’ contributions, right from the beginning of the accession process, in the design of the roadmap.

The OECD is an international body dedicated to promoting, above all, economic development through cooperation and alignment to international regulatory practices and standards. Mostly composed of the United States and European countries, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico are the only four Latin American members of the organization. In 2022, the OECD began formal talks with Argentina, Brazil, and Peru about joining the entity.

Despite the closed doors process, Brazil’s roadmap approved by OECD Ministerial Council captured important international concern, emphasizing environmental obligations, like zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and the strengthening of democratic institutions and civil society.

By contrast, the anti-corruption roadmap was timid and lacking novelty. Standard procedure, however, does not prevent thoroughness in assessing Brazil’s compliance with anti-corruption mechanisms, especially considering the unprecedently vigorous actions taken by the OECD Working Group on Bribery (WGB) to address Brazil’s recent setbacks in the fight against corruption. In November 2019, a WGB high level mission was prepared in record time and visited Brazil to address concern over the paralysis of the country’s anti-money laundering system, after a decision by former Chief Justice Dias Toffoli in favor of President Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. He would later be charged with embezzlement, money laundering, and criminal organization — a case recently closed due to the dismissal of evidence. In December 2020, mounting setbacks in the country’s anticorruption legal and institutional framework led the WGB to create an unprecedent sub group to monitor Brazil’s specific situation. And next year, the WGB is expected to carry out phase 4 evaluation of Brazil’s compliance with the Convention against Foreign Bribery, a pivotal OECD instrument.

Overall, the roadmap did not meet expectations for the institutionalization of broad participation by non-state stakeholders in the OECD accession. However, the document includes a comment about technical committees consulting with experts from the candidate country.

Precedent for opening up the accession process to non-state actor scrutiny already exists in several multilateral bodies and processes. We strongly believe that effective participation of Brazil’s highly capable civil society organizations in the process of accession to the OECD can guarantee that evaluations will not only check normative boxes of Brazilian compliance with an extraordinary number of regulations, but can also ensure adequate assessment of implementation and enforcement of practices and policies. This is particularly relevant considering recent setbacks in Brazil’s capacity to fight corruption and environmental crimes, and to protect human rights due to systematic attacks on the autonomy of institutions and to the country’s system of checks and balances.

Also very important, challenging issues should be dealt with promptly, rather than risk being side-lined in advanced negotiations and pushed towards a post-accession phase.

To begin with, to defend democratic values, enshrined in the OECD’s 60th Anniversary Vision Statement, the organization should produce a public statement clearly expressing its confidence in the Brazilian electoral system, currently under growing threat from President Bolsonaro’s government and political allies. Repeated photo-ops of OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann and President Jair Bolsonaro do not reflect the urgency and importance of this message, either in Brazil or abroad.

We must not forget, however, that the OECD was founded originally as a European organization with the goal of rebuilding a destroyed continent after a democratic breakdown that led to World War II. It is crucial to emphasize the organization’s root values and guarantee transparency, participation and thoroughness for Brazil’s accession to the institution.

Bruno Brandão is Executive Director at Transparency International Brazil