professionalism and ethics in the public service · naomi caiden, ms. kathryn denhardt, mr....

ST/ESA/PAD/SER.E/5

United NationsDepartment of Economic and Social AffairsDivision for Public Economics and Public Administration

Professionalism and Ethicsin the Public Service: Issues and Practices in Selected Regions

United Nations, New York • 2000

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NotesNotesNotesNotes

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication donot imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat ofthe United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area,or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The designations “developed” and “developing” economies are intended for statisticalconvenience and do not necessarily imply a judgement about the stage reached by aparticular country or area in the development process.

The term “country” as used in the text of this publication also refers, as appropriate,to territories or areas.

The term “dollar” normally refers to the United States dollar ($).

The views expressed are those of the individual authors and do not imply anyexpression of opinion on the part of the United Nations.

Enquiries concerning this publication may be directed to:

Mr. Guido BertucciDirectorDivision for Public Economics and Public AdministrationDepartment of Economic and Social AffairsUnited Nations, New York, NY 10017, USAFax: (212) 963-9681

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ForewordForewordForewordForewordAs part of the activities of the United NationsProgramme in Public Administration and Finance,under the 1998-1999 programme, the Division forPublic Economics and Public Administration ofthe Department of Economic and Social Affairshas compiled an overview of three conferences onthe theme of professionalism and ethics in thepublic service. In view of its mandate to assistMember States in strengthening theiradministrative capacities, the United Nationsorganized a series of regional and nationalconferences on these topics in 1997 and 1998.

In 1997, the Division co-organized a regionalconference in Thessaloniki on the Public Servicein Transition: Enhancing Its Role, Professional-ism and Ethical Values and Standards for 21countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Theevent was hosted by the Government of Greece,in cooperation with the United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP), Regional Bureau forEurope and the Commonwealth of IndependentStates.

In 1998, the Division co-organized the SecondPan-African Conference of Ministers of CivilService on the Civil Service in Africa: NewChallenges, Professionalism and Ethics. Theconference was held in Rabat, hosted by theKingdom of Morocco and co-organized by theAfrican Training Research Centre in Admini-stration for Development.

At the national level, the Division co-organized acolloquium in 1997 on Promoting Ethics in thePublic Service. Held in Brazil, the event washosted by the Government of Brazil, in coopera-tion with UNDP-Brazil. A report for each of theseconferences has been prepared.

This present overview report has been preparedby Ms. Elia Yi Armstrong, Governance andPublic Administration Branch of the Division,under the direction of Ms. Itoko Suzuki, Branch

Chief. The Division would also like to thank theconsultants and resource people who preparedpapers and commentaries for all of theconferences.

For the Thessaloniki conference, they were Ms.Naomi Caiden, Ms. Kathryn Denhardt, Mr.Yehezkel Dror, Mr. Robert Klitgaard, Mr. StaffanSynnerström, Mr. Gérard Timsit, and the authorsof the country papers. In addition, special thanksare due to Mr. Demitrios Argyriades, who editedthe final report and coordinated the organizationof the conference, and to Mr. Gary Manukyan,staff member.

For the Rabat conference, the consultants wereMr. Abdelouahed Ourzik, Mr. Benoît Ndi Zambo,Ms. Turkia Ould Daddah, Mr. Joseph Ayee, andthe authors of the country papers and presenta-tions. The Division would like to acknowledge itsstaff members, Ms. Yolande Jemiai and Mr.Mohamed Sall Sao, who were instrumental inorganizing this conference.

For the Brasilia conference, the consultants wereMr. Gerald Caiden and Mr. Peter Unwin, whilethe resource people were Mr. Gary Davis of theUS Office of Government Ethics; Mr. HowardWilson, Ethics Counsellor of Canada; and Mr.Janos Bertok of the Organisation for EconomicCooperation and Development. The Division alsonotes with appreciation the work of Mr. FranciscoAmorim in the organization of the conference.

Finally, the Division would like to thank all itshosts and partners in the successful organizationof the three conferences.

Guido BertucciDirectorDivision for Public Economics and PublicAdministrationDepartment of Economic and Social Affairs

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ContentsContentsContentsContentsExecutive SummaryExecutive SummaryExecutive SummaryExecutive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1 Current Issues in Professionalism and Ethics in the PublicCurrent Issues in Professionalism and Ethics in the PublicCurrent Issues in Professionalism and Ethics in the PublicCurrent Issues in Professionalism and Ethics in the PublicServiceServiceServiceService . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The public service on the public agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Challenges for the public service in development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Factors in promoting public service professionalism and ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Obstacles to public service professionalism and ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6The role of the United Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6United Nations activities to promote public service professionalism and ethics . . . . 7United Nations publications on professionalism and ethics in the public service . . . 8

Chapter 2 Cases in Countries in TransitionCases in Countries in TransitionCases in Countries in TransitionCases in Countries in Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Transition in Central and Eastern Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10United Nations Conference on Public Service in Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11The role of the public service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Professionalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 3 Cases in Countries in AdjustmentCases in Countries in AdjustmentCases in Countries in AdjustmentCases in Countries in Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Adjustment in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21United Nations Conference on Civil Service in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22The role of the public service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Professionalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chapter 4 The Brazilian CaseThe Brazilian CaseThe Brazilian CaseThe Brazilian Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Managerialism in Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Brazil-United Nations Colloquium on Promoting Ethics in the Public Service . . . 30The role of the public service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Professionalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Chapter 5 Conclusion: Common IssuesConclusion: Common IssuesConclusion: Common IssuesConclusion: Common Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Development and governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35The role of the public service in good governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Promoting professionalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

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Enhancing ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38The continuing role of the United Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

ReferencesReferencesReferencesReferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

AnnexesAnnexesAnnexesAnnexesAnnex 1 Action against Corruption with the United Nations International

Code of Conduct (A/RES/51/59) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Annex 2 United Nations Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions (A/RES/51/191) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Annex 3 International Cooperation against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions (A/RES/52/87) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Annex 4 Public Administration and Development (A/RES/50/225) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Annex 5 The Rabat Declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Executive SummaryExecutive SummaryExecutive SummaryExecutive SummaryScandals involving public officials have capturedworld attention these days. Precipitated by shadyprivatization deals, the diversion of aid, wide-spread public sector patronage, crony capitalism,and campaign financing abuses, people aredebating outright corruption and unprofessionalbehaviour in government. Are public officialsheld to higher standards of performance andconduct than others? If so, why? With the adventof the modern state, government officials havebeen and are seen as stewards of public resourcesand guardians of a special trust that citizens haveplaced in them. In return for this confidence, theyare expected to put public interest above self-interest.

The public service, made up of those employeesof the state who are covered by national and sub-national civil service laws, plays an indispensablerole in the sustainable development and goodgovernance of a nation. It is an integral part ofdemocracy because it serves as the neutraladministrative structure which carries out thedecisions of elected representatives of the people.It not only serves as the backbone of the state inimplementing a strategy for economic growth of anation but also runs the programmes that functionas the safety net for the most vulnerable segmentsof a society. Given these crucial roles, a countryexpects its public service to demonstrate highstandards of professionalism and ethics.

Professionalism in the public service is an over-arching value that determines how its activitieswill be carried out. It encompasses all othervalues that guide the public service such asloyalty, neutrality, transparency, diligence,punctuality, effectiveness, impartiality, and othervalues that may be specific to individual coun-tries. Ethics in the public service are broad normsthat delineate how public servants should exercisejudgment and discretion in carrying out theirofficial duties. These values and norms are betterreinforced if there exists a system of administra-tive policies, management practices, and oversightagents that provide incentives and penalties toencourage public servants to professionally carry

out their duties and observe high standards ofconduct.

However, public servants in developing and tran-sitional countries must meet the global challengesof a rapidly changing world and perform underlocal hardships. The world may no longer bethreatened by the cold war but must cope, instead,with escalating ethnic conflicts, spreading demo-cratization and its growing pains, a shiftingbalance between the state/market/civil societyforces, economic globalization, and increasingdemands made by better informed citizens. Theseglobal changes warrant a re-examination of therole of the state and the public service in sus-tainable human development.

At the same time, many countries have largepopulations living under crushing poverty, wherebasic needs go unmet and vast numbers of peopleare unemployed or under-employed. Many coun-tries experience conflict, cannot guarantee basichuman rights, and witness a general breakdown oflaw and order. Under these difficult local condi-tions, public servants in developing and transi-tional countries are asked to accomplish theimpossible—settle conflicts, rebuild nations, setup infrastructures, and develop prosperous socie-ties—under extreme resource constraints. Whenbasic needs cannot be met, talking about publicservice professionalism and ethics can seem aluxury.

Observing these problems and having seen theircosts to the socio-economic development of itsmembers states, the United Nations has tried todraw the international community’s attention tothe very important link between public serviceperformance and development. In view of itsmandate to assist governments, at their request, tostrengthen their governing and administrativecapacities, the United Nations has been active inpromoting professionalism and ethics in thepublic service. Specifically, its Department ofEconomic and Social Affairs, Division for PublicEconomics and Public Administration organized aseries of regional and national conferences onthese topics. This present publication is an

2 Professionalism and Ethics in the Public Service

overview of the issues discussed, practicesreported, and conclusions drawn from three ofthese events.

At the regional level, in 1997, the Division co-organized a regional conference on Public Servicein Transition: Enhancing Its Role, Professional-ism and Ethical Values and Standards. Ministersand high-ranking public officials from 21 coun-tries of Central and Eastern Europe gathered inThessaloniki, Greece to discuss the role of thepublic service in the enormous political, econo-mic, and social transformations which the coun-tries in the region are experiencing. As theyembark on reforms from a one-party to apluralistic state and a centrally-planned to amarket-oriented economy, the state is having toassume new and discard old roles, with resultingimplications for the “public service in transition.”

The Division also co-organized, in 1998, theSecond Pan-African Conference of Ministers ofCivil Service on the Civil Service in Africa: NewChallenges, Professionalism, and Ethics. Theconference in Rabat, Morocco drew ministers andother experts from 35 African countries. Theparticipants discussed how to reposition theircountries’ public services in the wake of adownturn in the global economy and structuraladjustment policies. They discussed the crucialrole of a “public service in adjustment” in theeconomic recovery of the region, through creatingan enabling environment for generating wealthand ensuring its equitable distribution.

At the national level, the Division co-organized acolloquium in Brazil on Promoting Ethics in the

Public Service, in 1997. In Brasilia, 300 seniorfederal and state public servants as well asrepresentatives from the business community, themedia, the academy, and professional associationsdiscussed how to modernize the civil service inline with “managerialist” reforms, introduced inthe Brazilian public administration. Given thecentral focus of this paradigm of the citizen astaxpayer, participants discussed the “publicservice and managerialism.” The resulting shiftfrom a rules-based to an outcomes-orientedbureaucracy has implications for public serviceprofessionalism and ethics. Thus, the colloquiumbenefited from presentations and discussions thatare relevant not only to Brazil but to othercountries as well.

Although these conferences took place indifferent regions, the participants concurred onthe central role of the state in the socio-economicdevelopment of their nations, the need to depoliti-cize their bureaucracies, and the importance ofresponding to citizens’ needs. They spoke outagainst corruption, calling for its containmentthrough addressing root causes such as lowsalaries and salary compressions. They high-lighted the needs and challenges distinctive totheir region or country but were also quick to seethe benefits of international cooperation. Giventhe similar and yet different circumstances thatface its membership, the United Nations willcontinue to bring together countries to discussproblems, share solutions, and promotecooperation. These actions will, hopefully,contribute to promoting professionalism andethics in the public service.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Current Issues in Professionalism andCurrent Issues in Professionalism andCurrent Issues in Professionalism andCurrent Issues in Professionalism andEthics Ethics Ethics Ethics In the Public ServiceIn the Public ServiceIn the Public ServiceIn the Public Service

The public service on the publicThe public service on the publicThe public service on the publicThe public service on the publicagendaagendaagendaagenda

Scandals involving public officials have capturedworld attention these days, on the threshold of anew millennium. Precipitated by events such as“sweetheart deal” privatization, the diversion ofaid, widespread public sector patronage, “cronycapitalism”, campaign financing abuses, peopleare debating outright corruption and unprofes-sional behaviour in government. If they are nottalking about actual criminal or immoral acts,they are condemning lackluster performance inthe public sector. In its discussions, the publicdoes not distinguish among those in government,whether they are elected political leaders or careerpublic servants. In public perception, all aretainted by the same brush of guilt or indolence.

Do societies hold public officials to higherstandards of performance and conduct than forothers? If so, why? How damaging are corruptbehaviour or laxity in the public service, or eventhe mere perception that they exist? What are thefinancial costs on the development process?

With the advent of the modern state, governmentofficials have been and are seen as stewards ofpublic resources and guardians of a special trustthat the citizenry has placed in them. In return forthis public confidence, they are expected to putthe public interest above self-interest. Thus themost commonly accepted definition of corruptionis some variation of the notion, “the abuse ofpublic office for private gain.” It has been notedthat “government ethics provides the precondi-tions for the making of good public policy. In thissense, it is more important than any single policy,

because all policies depend on it.”1

At the same time, the administration of the statehas become a profession in its own right. It is nolonger relegated to part time or unremuneratedwork as it had been in the past, in many parts ofthe world. For the purposes of this report, thepublic service is broadly defined as those em-ployees of the state who are covered by nationaland sub-national civil service laws. However, itshould be noted at the outset that many principlescovering professionalism and ethics of publicservants also apply to other public sectoremployees. In fact, many of these principlesshould also be extended to elected publicofficials.

The public service as a profession, as itdeveloped, espoused the values of probity,neutrality, and fairness, among many others. It hasembraced the merit principle in setting up careerstructures from recruitment to promotions. Byrunning the administrative machinery thatsupports decision-making and implements thepolicies and programmes of the government-of-the-day, public servants play an indispensable rolein the sustainable development and governance ofa nation. Further, as an institution, the publicservice ensures the continuity of administrationbetween transitions of power, which are thehallmarks of modern day democracy. Given thesecrucial roles, a country expects its public serviceto demonstrate professionalism and ethics.

Experience has shown that the costs of poorperformance and corruption in the public serviceare too great to bear. This is true not only for the

1 Dennis F. Thompson, “Paradoxes of GovernmentEthics”, Public Administration Review, Vol. 52, No. 3,May/June 1992, p. 255.


public service but also for the entire public sector,political leadership, and other strata of society.Financially, public officials’ diversion of fundsinto their own pockets means less money for thedevelopment of nations and peoples. Politically,the erosion of public confidence in and cynicismtoward government can break down fragile peaceand order in a society. Economically, a lack ofpredictable public institutions and a sense of fairregulations will deter investment and trade.“Empirical evidence based on cross-countrycomparisons does indeed suggest that corruptionhas large, adverse effects on private investmentand economic growth.”2 Socially, all these factorswill lead to a general deterioration of trust amongcitizens. These effects take a toll on countries,many of which are already straining to growunder severe resource constraints and weakinstitutions.

Challenges for the public serviceChallenges for the public serviceChallenges for the public serviceChallenges for the public servicein developmentin developmentin developmentin development

These problems are exacerbated in a world thatmay no longer be threatened by the cold war butmust cope, instead, with escalating ethnicconflicts, spreading democratization and itsgrowing pains, a shifting balance between thestate/market/civil society forces, globalization,and increasing demands made on the state by abetter-informed citizenry. These factors, amongothers, have altered the environment in whichgovernments are functioning. These determinantsof change are challenging the traditional roles ofthe state, introducing new actors to the develop-ment and governance process of a nation, andintroducing new roles and responsibilities for

public servants. They are also causing nationaland regional problems, such as corruption and itslinks to organized crime, to transcend boundariesand spill over into the international arena. Theseglobal changes warrant a re-examination of therole of the public service in sustainable humandevelopment or the process of “expanding thechoices for all people in society.”

At the same time, there are changes occurring thatare more specific to certain regions. To mentiononly those regions that are represented in thisvolume, the countries of Central and EasternEurope, as well as those in Africa, face sharedchallenges that are distinct to their region, as aresult of these changes. The countries must con-front these regional challenges in addition to theglobal and national challenges.

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union,Central and Eastern Europe has been charac-terized by “transition” since the early 1990s.Countries in this region have been making aconscious shift from, in effect, a one-party to amulti-party political system and a centrallyplanned to a market-oriented economy. Thetransition process has far-reaching implicationsfor the role of the public service, as they try tokeep countries operating in the face of rapid andwrenching economic, political, and social dis-locations. Public servants must adapt themselvesto the rethinking of the role of the state, withrespect to its broad functions and separation ofpowers. This change in role, in turn, demands anew personnel profile—requiring new kinds ofknowledge, skills, attitudes, and above all,professionalism. Strong public service leadershipand performance are now more critical than everin preventing further sub-national disintegrationand to slow down the spreading gap in regionaland income inequalities. Chapter 2 of this report,Cases in Countries in Transition, examines theimplications for public service professionalismand ethics, during the transition process.

Many countries in Africa have been undergoingmacro-economic structural adjustment in the faceof burgeoning debts since the 1980s. One objec-tive of these structural adjustment programmes

2 “Regression analysis shows that a country thatimproves its standing on the corruption index from, say6-8 (0 being the most corrupt, 10 the least) willexperience a 4 percentage point increase in itsinvestment rate and a 0.5 percentage point increase inits annual per capital GDP growth rate.” (Paul Mauro,“Corruption: Causes, Consequences, and Agenda forFurther Research”, Finance & Development, AQuarterly Publication of the IMF and the World Bank,March, 1998, p. 12)

Current Issues 5

has been to curb public expenditure throughstreamlining the public sector. This has been inresponse to the view that the state had over-extended its capacity to function well. “Economicdecision-making became centralized and publicenterprises proliferated. This resulted in a grow-ing bureaucracy with increasing discretionarypower, which was put to use as a conduit forgraft.”3 However, the attempt to rationalize thepublic service has not been complemented by arapid development of the private sector or civilsociety in a region where, typically, these havenot been well developed. The net result has been aweakened public service with no other well-developed local institutions to satisfactorily stepinto the vacuum. Chapter 3, Cases in Countries inAdjustment, examines the effects of structuraladjustment on public service professionalism andethics.

In addition to the global and regional challenges,countries also face changes at the national level.For example, Brazil, as the largest country inLatin America, is becoming an emergingeconomic force in the world. Following theexamples of many other countries, it has beentrying to introduce administrative reforms torender its state more efficient. At the federallevel, Brazil has been trying to streamline itspublic sector and apply “managerial” or moreprivate sector management principles to itsadministration. In this ideological shift, the publicservice is, again, challenged in having to observetraditional values such as probity, neutrality,fairness, and the like and incorporate new valuessuch as efficiency, performance, andaccountability for results. These issues areexplored in Chapter 4, The Case of Brazil.

These regional and national examples serve tounderscore the importance of public serviceperformance to the process of development. Withincreasing international competition, a clean andwell-performing public service is a precondition

to sustained economic growth. And since publicservice performance depends ultimately on thecompetence and integrity of its workforce, it istimely to promote professionalism and ethics inthis time-honoured institution.

Factors in promoting publicFactors in promoting publicFactors in promoting publicFactors in promoting publicservice professionalism andservice professionalism andservice professionalism andservice professionalism andethicsethicsethicsethics

Within the context of this report, public serviceprofessionalism is defined as the overall valuethat encompasses all other values that guide thepublic service. They include loyalty, neutrality,transparency, diligence, punctuality, effective-ness, impartiality, and other values that may bespecific to the public services of individual coun-tries. Public service professionalism embraces thenotion that those people who join the public ser-vice need to be inculcated with shared values andtrained in basic skills to professionally carry outtheir official duties. Complementary to this pro-cess is a need to set up management structures toensure that a public service ethos and competenceis achieved. Public service ethics is defined asbroad norms that delineate how public servants—as agents of the state and, where applicable, asmembers of an established profession such asaccounting, law, etc.—should exercise judgmentand discretion in carrying out their official duties.

A public service committed to professionalismand ethics is more likely to attain its goals if it hasin place an “ethics infrastructure”4 or its country,a “national integrity system”5. These conceptsrepresent, in a sense, a system of rules, activities,and agents that provide incentives and penaltiesfor public officials to professionally carry outtheir duties and engage in proper conduct.

Initiatives to promote professionalism can beginsimply with the existence of sound public

3 Kempe Ronald Hope Sr., “Corruption in Africa: ACrisis in Ethical Leadership” in Public Integrity, Vol. I,No. III, Summer 1999, p. 292.

4 For a detailed description, see Ethics in the PublicService: Current Issues and Practice, OECD, 1996.

5 For a detailed description, see The Role of a NationalIntegrity System in Fighting Corruption, The WorldBank, 1997.


management systems and practices. To start with,a career system based on the merit principle,which fairly and impartially recruits and promotespublic servants, must be in place. This structureshould be underpinned by a clear civil service lawthat outlines the legal rights and responsibilitiesof public servants. Further, well-articulated andfair human resource policies on appropriateremuneration, training opportunities, disciplinaryprocedures and the like should be implementedand enforced. More importantly, a culture ofprofessionalism and pride needs to be nurturedthrough the recognition of good work andcorrection of poor performance.

Initiatives promoting ethics include the additionof special measures which focus on preventing,detecting and reporting, investigating, prosecutingand enforcing the appropriate laws againstmisconduct, ranging from unethical to criminalacts. They should also focus on creating anenvironment conducive to and training publicservants to observe high standards of conduct. Inthese endeavours, good example set by leadershipis essential to the credibility of the exercise.

Obstacles to public serviceObstacles to public serviceObstacles to public serviceObstacles to public serviceprofessionalism and ethicsprofessionalism and ethicsprofessionalism and ethicsprofessionalism and ethics

In reality however, there are many challenges andresource constraints in setting up a system, asdescribed above. In many parts of the globe, largesegments of the population face crushing poverty.There are not enough basic infrastructures andservices in housing, health, education and em-ployment to meet basic needs. Vast numbers ofpeople are unemployed or under-employed. Manycountries have recently experienced or are experi-encing strife and conflict, where its citizens havehad to fear for their lives and have lost all. Insome cases, they do not have guarantees that theirbasic human rights will be respected. When abreakdown of law and order and extreme socialdislocation occur, the moral fabric of a societycan be torn apart. When survival becomes theparamount value, corruption can become a way oflife.

In this context, public servants in many parts of

the world are asked to accomplish theimpossible—settle conflicts, rebuild nations, setup infrastructures, and develop prosperoussocieties—from meager or borrowed publicfunds. Many times, they are pressured to becomepartisan in carrying out their duties or else arepunished upon refusal. On a personal level, theyare not paid for months or underpaid, sometimesnot allowing them to support their families. Thereare few opportunities in their societies for them ortheir family members to advance professionally orfinancially. These conditions breed low moraleand make corruption seem inevitable and anecessary evil. In areas where basic needs ofcitizens cannot be met, talking about profes-sionalism and ethics can seem a luxury.

Even under the harsh conditions noted above, acountless number of public servants around theworld have continued to selflessly serve thepublic. They are worthy reminders that publicservice performance and integrity are an integralpart of democracy, good governance and develop-ment. Public servants need not only to avoidcriminal acts but actually strive for professionaland ethical conduct. For, as observed above,without the necessary public confidence ingovernment, popular participation and coopera-tion necessary for a vibrant democracy andsustainable development will not grow.

The role of the United NationsThe role of the United NationsThe role of the United NationsThe role of the United Nations

The United Nations has an interest in the global,regional, and national challenges which publicservices are facing everywhere and a mandate fortaking action. Given the important link betweenpublic service performance and development, andthe link between public service performance andits professionalism and ethics, it has been activein promoting the latter. In addition, it has alsobeen concerned about the related and broaderproblem of corruption.

To mention only the major activities of the UnitedNations, the General Assembly adopted a numberof resolutions to encourage government ethics andfight corruption. The most recent and major onesinclude Action against Corruption (A/RES/51/59)

Current Issues 7

that has annexed to it the United NationsInternational Code of Conduct for PublicOfficials, adopted in 1996; The United NationsDeclaration against Corruption and Bribery inInternational Commercial Transactions(A/RES/51/191), also adopted in 1996; and theInternational Cooperation against Corruption andBribery in International Commercial Transactions(A/RES/52/87), adopted in 1998 (see annexes 1-3).

The work that promotes public service profes-sionalism and ethics is carried out as part of theUnited Nations Programme in Public Admini-stration and Finance, from Secretariat Head-quarters in New York. (See section below.) TheSecretariat also promotes crime prevention andcriminal justice, including fighting corruption,through its Vienna Office.

The United Nations Development Programme hasbeen tackling corruption as an integral part of acomprehensive governance strategy at the countrylevel. It has also set up a Programme for Account-ability and Transparency in financial and overseasaid management.

The World Bank group has been working onpreventing corruption in its projects, assistingclient governments to reduce corruption, “main-streaming” anti-corruption strategies to integratethem into overall country assistance and econo-mic sector work, and disseminating informationon international efforts to reduce corruption.

United Nations activities toUnited Nations activities toUnited Nations activities toUnited Nations activities topromote public servicepromote public servicepromote public servicepromote public serviceprofessionalism and ethicsprofessionalism and ethicsprofessionalism and ethicsprofessionalism and ethics

For fifty years, the United Nations Programme inPublic Administration and Finance has beenproviding research and analysis to inter-govern-mental bodies and policy advice and technicalcooperation to member states upon request.Currently, the work of the Programme is beingcarried out by the Department of Economic andSocial Affairs, Division for Public Economics andPublic Administration. Under the Programme,many fora have been organized where countries

could consult one another about their experiences,both in comparing problems that they face andsharing best practices in finding solutions. TheProgramme is advised by a Group of Experts,which meets biennially and reports to the Econo-mic and Social Council and, ultimately, theGeneral Assembly.

The activities to promote public service profes-sionalism and ethics have been mandated byGeneral Assembly resolution 50/225 on PublicAdministration and Development, adopted in1996 (see annex 4). This resolution broadlyconfirms the vital importance of governance,public administration, and finance to the develop-ment process. In paragraph 13(a), it also acknow-ledges the role of the United Nations in assistinggovernments, at their request, in “strengtheninggovernment capacity for policy development,administrative restructuring, civil service reform,human resources development and publicadministration training.”

Further, the most recent Meeting of the Group ofExperts on the United Nations Programme inPublic Administration and Finance, in 1998,acknowledged that “the State must be in theforefront of implementing change and smoothingthe path for progress.”6 The Experts called for“new approaches to management, exemplifyingopenness, adaptability, participation, flexibility,diversity and responsiveness.”7 They recognizedthat “facilitating change and fostering a newimage for the public service call for new careerstructures which emphasize mobility, the impor-tance of integrity and professionalism and theoverriding claims of merit in the recruitment,placement and promotion of public servants.”8

In 1997 and 1998, the Division for Public

6 United Nations, Work of the Fourteenth Meeting ofExperts on the United Nations Programme in PublicAdministration and Finance: Report of the SecretaryGeneral, (E/1998/77), 1998, paragraph 39(a)

7 Ibid., paragraph 39(b)

8 Ibid., paragraph 39(c)


Economics and Public Administration co-organized a series of conferences on profes-sionalism and ethics in the public service. In1997, the Division began by co-organizing aregional conference on Public Service inTransition: Enhancing Its Role, Professionalismand Ethical Values and Standards, hosted by theGovernment of Greece. Ministers and high-ranking civil servants from 21 countries ofCentral and Eastern Europe as well as represen-tatives from major intergovernmental organiza-tions attended in Thessaloniki. The participantsdiscussed the importance of a professional andethical public service in the transition process.

Also in 1997, the Division co-organized acolloquium in Brasilia on Promoting Ethics in thePublic Service, for senior federal and state publicservants. The deliberations of the event, spon-sored by the Government of Brazil, were for-warded to the Brazilian Council on State Reformto be included in its recommendations toPresident Henrique Cardoso in launching anational ethics initiative in the public service.

In 1998, the Division co-organized the SecondPan-African Conference of Ministers of CivilService on Civil Service in Africa: New Chal-lenges, Professionalism and Ethics in Rabat. Theevent was hosted by the Government of Morocco.At the conference, ministers and other high-levelrepresentatives from 35 African countries adopteda declaration (see Annex 5), broadly recognizingthe important link between civil service perfor-mance and the socio-economic development ofAfrican nations.

In addition to these conferences, the Division alsosupported other regional and national conferenceson the themes of ethics and anti-corruption strate-gies. In 1997, the Division supported the Interna-tional Seminar on Ethics and Public Administra-tion in Venezuela, sponsored by The PresidentialState Reform Commission of Venezuela(COPRE) and The Latin American Centre forDevelopment Administration (CLAD). In 1998,the Division was an international observer at andparticipant in the national consultative conferenceon the Promotion of Ethics and Combating of

Corruption in Namibia.

Although these conferences took place indifferent regions, the participants recognized thatnew, common responsibilities have been placedon the public administrations of their countries.These new responsibilities result from globali-zation, new communication technologies, and thedisparities of income and opportunities of theircitizens. The participants considered a well-performing and transparent public service as anessential pre-requisite for private sector growthand economic development. Consequently, theyviewed the promotion of professionalism andethical standards in the public service as a keyissue for development.

United Nations publications onUnited Nations publications onUnited Nations publications onUnited Nations publications onprofessionalism and ethics inprofessionalism and ethics inprofessionalism and ethics inprofessionalism and ethics inthe public servicethe public servicethe public servicethe public service

This present volume is an overview of the find-ings of the three conferences, co-organized by theUnited Nations. There are five chapters. In addi-tion to this present introductory chapter, chapters2 to 4 summarize the main issues and synthesizethe recommendations and conclusions that werediscussed at the conferences. Chapter 5, the con-cluding chapter, attempts to compare the findingsof these conferences, in terms of any similar ordiverging trends.

Rather than follow a strict chronological order,the chapters have been arranged to cover theregions and then give the national example ofBrazil. Since the two regions have the wide rangeof country experiences in common, they wereplaced side by side. Chapter 2, Cases in Countriesin Transition, is a summary of the 1997 Thessalo-niki conference. Chapter 3, Cases in Countries inAdjustment, is a summary of the Second Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Civil Service,held in Rabat in 1998. Chapter 4, The Case ofBrazil, is a summary of the colloquium held inBrasilia in 1997.

Chapters 2 to 4 have been organized the sameway, to facilitate comparison among them. Thefirst section sets the context for the region or the

Current Issues 9

country. This is followed by sections on theimplications for the role of the public service, itsprofessionalism, and ethics. These three sectionsare based on conference papers that have beencommissioned to explore related issues. As well,they are based on country papers and presen-tations at the conferences that described currentpractices. The final section summarizes anyconclusions by and recommendations from theconference participants on the way forward.

In addition to this present document, three otherseparate reports have been prepared. First, PublicService in Transition: Enhancing Its Role, Profes-

sionalism, and Ethical Values and Standards is afull report of the regional conference for Centraland Eastern Europe. Second, Civil Service inAfrica: New Challenges, Professionalism andEthics, is the complete report of the regionalconference for Africa. Third, Promoting Ethics inthe Public Service, covers the colloquium, held inBrazil. These publications seek to contribute tothe global dialogue on the crucial role of thepublic service in development and the need toboost its performance through enhancingprofessionalism and ethics.

Chapter 2:

Cases in Countries in TransitionCases in Countries in TransitionCases in Countries in TransitionCases in Countries in Transition1111

Transition in Central and EasternTransition in Central and EasternTransition in Central and EasternTransition in Central and EasternEuropeEuropeEuropeEurope

Transition is a term that is applied to countries of1 Central and Eastern Europe which are currentlyexperiencing a major political, economic, andsocial transformation as old orders are giving wayto new ones. Since 1989, with the fall of theBerlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union,countries in this region have seen markets replacecentralized plans and democratic elections suc-ceed single-party states. With the end of the ColdWar, the region is searching for a new place in theworld order while the countries are seeking torecast themselves.

The common ground on which these countriesstarted is that despite their long and rich historiesthat are centuries old, they are relatively newstates and certainly new democracies. Themajority were born out of the dissolution of thelarge, multi-national empires in Europe, at the endof the First World War. Many of them share thelegacy of those empires. The institution-buildingdrive that marked the first decades of these newstates was interrupted by the Second World Warand the division of Europe into East and West thatfollowed. Among the Eastern European and theformer Soviet Union countries, the speedycollapse of communism account for some initialfeatures of the transition process. These are thewidespread rejection of former patterns ofgovernment and rapid political, economic andsocial changes.

At the same time, the countries in the region alsobegan with a wide variation of initial conditionsbefore embarking on the transition process. Theyhad differing historical and cultural legacies,geography, economic and social structures,lengths of periods of central planning, experiencewith market reforms, etc. For example, those

countries—such as the Czech Republic, Hungaryand Poland—which already had an industrialeconomic base or had already experimented witheconomic reforms were more easily able toliberalize their economies. Other inheritors of acommand system which allocated production witha view to political control rather than economicefficiency had to offset that legacy. Thus, “underComecon, Belarus ‘got’ tractors, Slovakia tanksand Bulgaria toothpaste.”2

In addition to their legacy of monolithism, thecountries have also faced other challenges,resulting from the transition itself. First, manycountries have been characterized by frequentchanges in government that have made it difficultfor them to stay steadfastly in one policy direc-tion. For example, Russia has experiencednumerous cabinet shuffles and changes in primeministers which have added to the political andeconomic uncertainty and confusion. Thissituation has contributed significantly to capitalflight and a reluctance for further investment.Second, transition has been much more orderly insome countries than in others. The latter havebeen characterized by a breakdown of socialorder, financial instability, a growth in theinformal sector in the economy, corruption, and ageneral weakening of the rule of law. Third, theneed to decentralize authority has meant thecreation of local governments. These newadministrative structures need to generate revenueand deliver services at the local level, clarify theirfunctions vis-a-vis the central government, andtrain public servants in new duties.

Further, many countries in the region aresuffering from natural or man-made disasters, thatare compounding the difficulties of transition. Toillustrate, Armenia is still recovering from adevastating earthquake in 1988, during which one

1This chapter is a summary of the 1997 ThessalonikiConference.

2 Nicholas Stern, “The Future of the EconomicTransition,” EBRD Working Paper No. 30, 1998, p. 3.

Cases in Countries in Transition 11

third of the country was severely affected anddamaged. It is living with this legacy in the midstof ongoing ethnic conflicts in three out of fourneighbouring countries. The Czech Republic dealtwith catastrophic floods which occurred duringthe summer of 1997. The damages are estimatedto be in billions of Czech crowns. Georgia istrying to build a new state in the face of resolvingterritorial disputes, returning more than 300,000refugees to their homeland, and a sharp energycrisis. Both Albania and Montenegro currentlyface an influx of Kosovar refugees who arestretching their already limited resources.

In the face of these challenging conditions, mostof these countries are ill-equipped, with inade-quate public administrative structures inheritedfrom former regimes. Major political and econo-mic structural changes have not been accom-panied at an even pace with public administrativereforms. This has led to situations of a lack ofharmony between a market economy and ademocratic state on the one hand and an un-changed functional and organizational system ofpublic administration, working under oftenoutdated legal regulations, on the other.

In fact, the very definition of the public servant ischanging radically in these countries. Underformer socialist states, agents of public admini-stration and employees of enterprises fell under asingle legal system, deriving from a labour codeapplicable to all. By contrast, in Western Euro-pean countries, public servants are subject tospecific civil service laws that define their rolesand responsibilities. At present, countries intransition are now in the various stages of draftingand implementing such laws to create a profes-sional civil service. In effect, this “rebirth” of theprofession requires a re-examination of thefundamental values, principles, organizationalstructures and programmes which have definedthe public service as an institution since itsinception.

United Nations Conference onUnited Nations Conference onUnited Nations Conference onUnited Nations Conference onPublic Service in TransitionPublic Service in TransitionPublic Service in TransitionPublic Service in Transition

To provide a forum to re-examine these issues,the United Nations co-organized a regionalconference entitled Public Service in Transition:Enhancing Its Role, Professionalism and EthicalValues and Standards, in November 1997. Theconference programme was organized by theUnited Nations Department of Economic andSocial Affairs, Division for Public Economics andPublic Administration—then named the Divisionfor Governance, Public Administration andFinance. The conference itself, held in Thessalo-niki, was hosted by the Greek Ministry of theInterior, Public Administration and Decentraliza-tion and organized in cooperation with the UnitedNations Development Programme, RegionalBureau for Europe and the Commonwealth ofIndependent States.

Over 120 participants attended, includingministers and senior officials in charge of thepublic service in 21 countries of Central andEastern Europe. Countries represented wereAlbania, Armenia, Azerbaijian, Belarus, Bulgaria,The Czech Republic, Estonia, the FormerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia,Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova,Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation,Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, and the Ukraine. Inaddition, major international and regionalorganizations such as the European Commission(EC), the European Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment (EBRD), the European InvestmentBank (EIB), the Organisation for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD), theInternational Institute for Administrative Science(IIAS), and Transparency International (TI)among others were represented.

The participants discussed the enormous political,economic and social transformation whichCentral and Eastern Europe is experiencing, as


countries embark on reforms from a one-party to apluralistic state and a centrally-planned to amarket-oriented economy. The results have beenchanges to the role of the state and the need forthe public service to adapt. However, theparticipants acknowledged that forces such asglobalization, rapid advances in communicationstechnology, and the emergence of a vibrant andvocal civil society are affecting public services ofall regions and countries.

The discussions addressed the legacy of controland command structures of the public service inCentral and Eastern European countries which isimpeding current efforts to reform them. But thepublic service has a pivotal role to play in shapinga new society by rediscovering and embodyingthe true meaning of public interest and placingitself at the disposal of the society as a wholerather than of a select group or by promoting itsown interests. In order to do this, its profession-alism needs to be enhanced. Its main functions:policy analysis, public management and per-formance monitoring and evaluation must bestrengthened within the context of the currenttransformation. In addition, democracies survivein the long run only if there is a sufficient level ofpublic confidence that government officials willact ethically. Therefore, ethics in the publicservice should be promoted.

This chapter is an overview of the issues pre-sented, discussions held, and recommendationsthat emerged during the conference as theparticipants looked to strengthening the publicservice in order for it to play a crucial role in thetransition process. It is also a description of whatis actually taking place in the region, based on thepapers which 17 of the 21 countries submitted.These country papers outlined their nationalexperience in the domains of public serviceprofessionalism and ethics.

The role of the public serviceThe role of the public serviceThe role of the public serviceThe role of the public service

Under socialist states, the countries of Central andEastern Europe tried to exercise state control overall economic and social activities. There was littleor no differentiation in the legal status between

core agents of public administration andemployees of enterprises, nor between central orlocal administration or parastatal organizations.Moreover, the administration was highlypoliticized, in “a relationship characterized by thecomplete subordination of the administrativeagents to a political authority, present in bothaspects as governmental authority and as a singledominant party. In this way, by means of thenotorious ‘nomenklatura’ (i.e. lists of jobs whichcould be filled only with the party’s agreement),the complete integration of the administrationwith the State power was realized.”3

One aspect of transition, then, is the breakup ofthis monolithic state. “However, transition hasmade it necessary for public administration to beboth the subject and actor in this reform.”4 Thismeans, in effect, that a modern and effectivepublic service has to be “carved out” from thisamorphous, omni-present state in order toeffectively recast their countries. Concurrently, atthe global level, citizens are demanding more andbetter services from their governments, pushingfor more state involvement in new spheres such asprotecting the environment and improving thequality of life. These two forces, the first whichrequires a reduction in the role of the state and thesecond which requires an increase, are makingcontradictory demands on the state. They arecomplicating the environment within which thepublic service must recreate itself. On practicalterms, the public service in its efforts to redefineitself has to carry out contradictory roles, leavinggaps in legislation and inadequate controls informer areas of control and centralization andregulatory activities in new areas of activities.

To respond to these challenges, those countriespresent at the Thessaloniki Conference mentioned

3 Gérard Timsit, “The Public Sector: Current Trendsand Constraints,” a paper presented at the RegionalConference on Public Service in Transition: EnhancingIts Role, Professionalism and Ethical Values andStandards, 1997, p.2.

4 Ibid., p. 3.


undertaking some form of public administrationreforms. It is helpful to place any attempt atredefining the role of the public service withinthese contexts. In general, the principle objectivesof reform include reinforcing the rule of law andconsolidating democratic institutions,

decentralizing and deconcentrating administrativestructures and functions, modernizing the publicservice, and working towards the goal ofintegrating into the European Union.

First, a number of them indicated that they wereundertaking reforms in public administration as apart of trying to reinforce, and in some casesreintroduce, the rule of law and consolidateinstitutions of democracy. The majority of thecountries in the region introduced a new consti-tution in the 1990s and a set of new legislation toseparate powers, create institutions of democracy,set up new government machinery, and revampadministrative systems.

A good example is Estonia, which gained inde-pendence in 1991 and adopted a new constitutionin 1992. It introduced new government insti-tutions, namely the institution of the Presidency,Parliament, Chancellor of Law, The State AuditOffice, and the Estonia Bank. In addition, itintroduced ministries at the central level and rurallocal governments. However, Estonia observedthat many laws were created hastily, withresulting overlaps between legislation andproblems in implementation.

The second theme in public administrationreforms has been decentralization and decon-centration. In terms of decentralization, a numberof countries such as the Czech Republic,Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Turkeyhave mentioned a transfer of powers from thecentral to the local level as well as trying todelineate the mandates and functions of theselevels. The Czech Republic mentioned its long-term strategy for public administration reform,covering the central and territorial administrationsand local communes. (At present, there are 6,234local communes, indicating an increase of 50%since 1989, governed by the Act on

Municipalities.) In introducing “self-government”at the territorial levels, the Czech Republic notedrunning into problems of finding a commonpolitical will, even on a coalition basis. In termsof deconcentration, Georgia has given moreautonomy to individual ministries. It has created aBureau of Public Administration, within the StateChancellery, to deal with the organizations ofgovernment machinery and human resourcesmanagement system.

Third, most of the countries indicated that theyare striving to modernize their public service.Armenia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,Slovenia, and Russia mentioned attempting todemarcate political appointees from career civilservants. They are trying to lay out a legal basisfor a civil service, defining the status, rights andobligations of civil servants. In the process, theyare also laying down the framework for a profes-sional civil service, characterized by requiredcompetencies, training opportunities, and held tocertain quality standards.

As an illustration, Armenia noted holding aconference on civil service reform in the fall of1997, facilitated by EU experts. As one result,political appointees and certain staff on contractsare being defined as being outside of the civilservice. Further, the operational management ofthe civil service is to be carried out by theExecutive Directorate which reports to theCouncil of Ministers. Dispute resolutions are tobe carried out by independent, permanentcommissions. This new concept of civil service isbeing tested in different ministries. Hungaryintroduced legal provisions to also separatepolitical and administrative offices. The goals ofthe Act on the Legal Standing of Civil Servants isto guarantee a group of permanent staff in thecivil service, neutral to party politics. To that end,the regulations had to focus on a system ofpromotions based on merit and a career systembased on security. Latvia, upon World Bankadvice, launched a census of its public sector inJuly 1997. The purpose was to gather informationon the functions, hierarchical positions ofinstitutions, financing, and number of employees.


The survey was coordinated by the Civil ServiceAdministration and the Bureau of PublicAdministration.

Finally, a number of countries indicated theaccession to the European Union as a statedobjective of their public administration reforms.Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,Slovenia and Turkey are reforming their publicadministrations to harmonize their laws andregulations with those of the EuropeanCommunity. Slovenia stated that there arenumerous reasons for the structural and functionalmodernization of the Slovenian public admini-stration, ranging from the necessity for a moreefficient operation of government institutions tothe aspiration to become a full member of theEuropean Union.

Thus, the picture emerging in the region is that ofcountries introducing and strengthening theseparation of state power, devolving authority tolower levels of government and regional officesof departments, and harmonizing their publicadministration to the standards of the EuropeanUnion. A modern public service that is highlyeffective is a crucial element for the countries inthe region to build up their state capacity tointegrate and compete within the global economy.To achieve a well-functioning public service,there must be in place a system of recruitment,training and rewards which brings out and utilizesthe highest potential of public servants. A certaindegree of functional specialization also allows forthe required level of competence to develop. Thusprofessionalism is a key aspect of a modernpublic service.

ProfessionalismProfessionalismProfessionalismProfessionalism

A professional or merit-based public service has along history, including exams to qualify for publicoffices. The rationale behind professionalism isthat public servants should be neutral, impartial,fair, competent and serve the public interest incarrying out their duties. They should be top peo-ple who are fairly compensated and adequatelytrained to perform their work. In order toeffectively carry out government business in

today’s complex world of globalization, there area number of core functions which are crucial topublic administration. For the purposes of theThessaloniki Conference, public servants wereseen to serve in many capacities which can beroughly grouped into three functions: policyadvice, public management, and performancemonitoring and evaluation.

Governments engage in crucial strategic planningfor the future. They must review policy options,including their costs and benefits, before embark-ing on a course of action. Public servants areindispensable in providing policy advice, as theyoften have more experience within a sector andare closer to the day-to-day implementation ofpolicies. To upgrade the core capacities of thisgroup of policy advisors, professionalization ofpolicy planning is recommended. There are someviews that this is best achieved by postgraduatepublic policy schools, but sets of short workshopsand intense training programs provide usefulshortcuts to preparing urgently needed policyplanning professionals.5 Such training pro-grammes should stress in-depth knowledge of asubject area, policy creativity and craft skills.They also stress rationality and an emotionaldetachment, even in the midst of a controversy, aswell as a commitment to the public interest.Policy advice units could also be simultaneouslyintroduced with such a training programme.

In addition to professional policy advisors,effective public managers are necessary toimplement policies and run programmes. Besidesrecruiting and training good people, there needs tobe in place a legal framework and institutionaland management structures necessary for themaking of good managers. In setting up such astructure, the following elements should be

5 Yehezkel Dror, “Enhancing Professionalism in PublicPolicy Planning: The Making of Highly Qualified,Creative and Conscientious Policy Advisers,” a paperpresented at the Regional Conference on Public Servicein Transition: Enhancing Its Role, Professionalism andEthical Values and Standards, 1997.


considered.6 The selection, training and careermanagement as well as the administrative contextwithin which managers operate must beimproved. Top management positions should bedefined and protected from political partisanshipthrough a professional selection process. Thereshould be a special law, a civil service law, tospell out the status of public servants, includingtheir rights and duties and sufficient benefits toensure that highly qualified individuals will beattracted to the public service. Countries shouldestablish a central government unit to manage andoversee the public service. A separate system ofrecruiting, appointing and managing the career ofsenior managers should also be set up. Becausepublic service reform is a long term process, topmanagement reform should begin early in theimplementation phase and be carried out to lowerlevels. There should also be a recognition thatspecial transitional provisions may be needed inthe early stages of top management reform.Finally, broad political consensus is needed fortop management reform, both by the public andother public sector employees. Without thesemeasures, governments will find it difficult tocompete with the private sector for a tight supplyof good managers.

After giving policy advice and managing publicprogrammes, public servants must be prepared toassess their own performance and degree ofaccomplishment, as a demonstration of theirprofessionalism. “ During the 1980's and l990's,attempts to measure the results of governmentactivities have accelerated, as a key component ofmore general civil service reforms and in the faceof increasing lack of confidence in government.Efforts to implement changes in the role ofgovernment and concepts of governance havemade the quest for performance measures and

program evaluation more urgent.”7 A number ofmeasures such as inputs, activity levels, outputs,outcomes, productivity, customer satisfaction,service quality, and the like can be employed,depending on the purpose of the evaluation.However, problems encountered in usingperformance measures include constructing validmeasures, actually using the information indecision making, and treating evaluation asmerely an exercise in public relations. Despitethese drawbacks, resulting information can beused by the public in holding governmentsaccountable for their decisions and actions.“Public servants need to apply their professionalexpertise and judgment to developing sensible,useful and truthful measures of performance toadvance public purposes.”8

In light of these functions, four dimensions ofprofessionalism which received special attentionduring the conference can be summarized: publicservice autonomy, structure, employmentconditions, and training.

Most countries agreed that, in many cases, one-party rule “de-professionalized” officialdomthrough total subordination to shifting partyexigencies. Restoring and safeguarding a measureof institutional autonomy has been a primeobjective of civil service laws, enacted or beingdrafted in several countries. Poland started earlyin 1982 with the Law on State Officials whichstabilized, to a certain degree, the situation ofpublic officers and set out the principles of theirwork. Hungary reported that it became of theutmost importance that political and admini-strative functions be absolutely delineated inpublic administration and in the administration ofthe municipalities. In Latvia, the law identifiedthose organizations where civil servants who

6 Staffan Synnerstrom (SIGMA), “Professionalism inPublic Service Management: The Making of HighlyQualified, Efficient and Effective Public Managers,” apaper presented at the Regional Conference on PublicService in Transition: Enhancing Its Role,Professionalism and Ethical Values and Standards,1997.

7 Naomi Caiden, “Public Service Professionalism forPerformance Measurement and Evaluation,” a paperpresented at the Regional Conference on Public Servicein Transition: Enhancing Its Role, Professionalism andEthical Values and Standards, 1997, Abstract.

8 Ibid. Abstract.


serve political officials are not considered civilservants. In Lithuania, by contrast, civil servantsare divided into two ranks: those whose termcoincides with the appointment of their politicalmasters and those whose period of service isindependent from that of the political head.

Ostensibly, a degree of separation betweenpolitical and administrative posts has beenconsidered critical to the organization of civilservice careers. Most countries indicated that theywere inclined towards a career principle which isenshrined in civil service laws. The principle istied to guarantees of tenure, related rights andduties, eligibility conditions, selection criteria,and conditions of service.

A career civil service structure depends on twomajor sets of factors. First, there needs to berationality, transparency and coherence in thepersonnel system. Second, the responsibility forthe coordination of civil service managementneeds to be clearly designated.

Although not all countries provided the necessarydetails to form a clear picture of their prevailingsituations, it seems that the traditional model ofdividing personnel into categories is still widelyfollowed. Poland cited the fact that under theprevious regime, political orientation had been themost important criterion for a civil servant. As aresult, there was a lack of personnel policy interms of recruitment and selection, trainingschemes, staff appraisals, and modern manage-ment and administrative methods. Now, Poland isimplementing a personnel structure based on fourclasses (broadly: executive, managerial,professional, and support) which are filledaccording to an employee’s educationalcredentials. Both Bulgaria and Georgia have alsostressed the importance of working outstandardized job descriptions, performancemeasures, uniform tests, and retraining schemes.

Perhaps as a reaction to the fragmented state ofpublic personnel under the former regime, mostcountries reported a predilection for a centralcoordinating mechanism. The Ministry of theInterior is commonly designated, as is in Hungary,

Slovakia and Slovenia. However, in a number ofcountries such as Latvia, a Ministry of StateAdministration has been specially established forthis purpose. The problems of designing,enforcing and implementing a common system arecompounded by the proliferation of organizationswithout a common denominator and regulatedstatus.

In addition to autonomy and a coherent structure,the civil service must be able to attract, retain,develop and motivate men and women of therequisite caliber to be a professional institution.At the most basic level, a number of countriesidentified inadequate pay as a problem. TheCzech Republic suggested that low salaries ofofficials have caused a mass exodus of the mostqualified to the private sector. In Albania, weakpersonnel is considered to be one of the keyimpediments to administrative reforms.According to its paper, this may be a reason whya Civil Service Law was passed in Albania butnever enforced. However, other papers mentionthat inadequate pay is partly offset by non-monetary incentives such as enhanced jobsecurity, travel opportunities, and prospects forretraining. For instance in Latvia, where theaverage age of civil servants is low, many youngwomen and men opt for civil service positions,which offer the possibility of parallel enrolmentand study for a degree.

The problems of low pay are frequentlycompounded by the compression of salary scales,resulting in inadequate differentials between thehighest and lowest grades. Unfavourable internal,as well as external, comparisons work against theretention, motivation and development ofexperienced and competent staff.

The knowledge and competence of civil servantsdepend largely upon pre- and in-service training.As such, all country papers identified training as aprincipal vehicle of administrative reforms in thetransition process. The establishment and streng-thening of training institutions were some of theearliest steps taken in building a new or modern-izing a civil service. The papers indicated that thecountries benefited greatly from the support and


guidance received from various bi-lateral pro-grammes and international agencies.

Countries have adopted different arrangementsfor pre-entry training. Hungary, for instance, hasleft this to colleges and universities. Latvia andPoland provide it by contract, preferring a highlyinstitutionalized approach to preparing candidatesfor the civil service profession. Country papersmentioning in-service training have stressedmanagement training, in an attempt to impart thenew approaches of pluralist democracies andmarket-oriented economies. Another reason forproviding in-service training has been to imple-ment new legislative measures and rules in thetransition process. Finally, in-service training isseen as infusing and reinforcing an esprit de corpsamong all civil servants.

There seems to be an overall introduction of acareer structure for the public service in thecountries in the region. This structure iscomposed of provisions defining a civil servant inthe civil service law, a career system, and trainingopportunities. What is yet unclear is the degree ofspecialization of the public servants in relations tothe three functions outlined above. Further,proper remuneration, capable of attracting toppeople, seems to be a problem for a number ofcountries. However, the countries in the regionhave made very encouraging starts towardsstrengthening public service professionalism.

EthicsEthicsEthicsEthics

Ethics and corruption can be considered the twosides of a coin. The term “ethics” connotes anaspirational approach to conduct, focusing on theprevention of illegal or immoral behaviour byencouraging and rewarding desired behaviour.“Corruption”, on the other hand, conjures up adisciplinary approach to shaping conduct, throughenforcing and punishing illegal or criminalbehaviour.

It is being acknowledged that corruption and lackof accountability among public officials—incollaboration with the private sector—poses aserious threat to democracy, human rights, and therule of law. This is true not only for Central and

Eastern Europe but for the rest of the world.Corruption and organized crime are underminingthe fragile foundations of emerging democracies.Government leaders are not demonstrating awillingness to deal with the problems to causemuch optimism for meaningful reform. But,failure to control corruption could spell economic,social, and political disaster. There are alternativestrategies for enhancing ethics in government andamong public officials, including legal,organizational, and institutional frameworkswhich might be utilized to enhance ethics in thepublic service. These strategies are based on theview that reforms to safeguard public integrity arecentral to the survival of democratic governmentsbecause institutions based on sound ethicalprinciples are necessary preconditions for stabledemocracies.9 Further, these reform measuresshould be cost-effective. Select reforms,implemented effectively and enforcedconsistently, can provide an appropriate balancebetween compliance and integrity basedapproaches.

Unfortunately, corruption is prevalent world-wide. It thrives under conditions of powermonopolization, and a lack of transparency andaccountability.10 Combatting corruption beginswith better systems, more competition, andtransparency and accountability in government.In line with this approach, anti-corruptionstrategies should focus on repairing institutionsprone to corruption, involving people. Theyshould take part in both the diagnosis and remedyof those ills and punishing major offenders.

9 Kathryn G. Denhardt, “Enhancing Ethics in the PublicService: Setting Standards and Defining Values,” apaper presented at the Regional Conference on PublicService in Transition: Enhancing Its Role,Professionalism and Ethical Values and Standards,1997.

10 Robert Klitgaard, “Combatting Corruption andPromoting Ethics in the Public Service,” a paperpresented at the Regional Conference on Public Servicein Transition: Enhancing Its Role, Professionalism andEthical Values and Standards, 1997.


Progress in this direction may be slow andpolitically costly. Precisely on this account,international cooperation can prove a usefulstrategy by helping national leaders justify anti-corruption measures that might otherwise beembarrassing, or difficult to make credible. Topleadership initiative, active participation by headsof key departments, and the involvement of civilsociety are critical components of a successfulstrategy. A cooperative approach could proveextremely effective in galvanizing systemic actionby both the private and public sector to reducecorruption in a region.

All the countries at the conference acknowledgedsome form of legal and institutional reforms toenhance the prevention, detection, and prose-cution of illegal or corrupt behaviour in the publicsector. Measures to prevent corruption includedconflict-of-interest or financial disclosure provi-sions, the introduction of codes of ethics orconduct, the promulgation of overall anti-corruption initiatives, and increasing transparencyin and accountability of government actions. Toenhance the detection of criminal or illegalbehaviour, the countries described improvedinvestigation procedures. To better prosecutecorruption, they highlighted strengthened legalframework and measures against organized crime.

During the conference, Albania, the CzechRepublic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,Poland, Russia and the Ukraine reported intro-ducing either legal or administrative bases forconflict-of-interest or financial disclosure filings.The coverage of these filing provisions rangefrom just the top civil servants, as in the case ofRussia, to both the executive and judicialbranches of government, as in the case of theCzech Republic. The scope of these provisionsrange from publicly filing affidavits of income,real estate, and gifts to a prohibition on holdingoutside employment, abusing privilegedinformation, serving on boards of businessentities, holding stocks in business enterprisesreceiving state contracts with the prohibitionextending to family members, and post-employ-ment restrictions. In most circumstances,

scientific, journalistic, literary or artistic activitiesare exempt from outside employment restrictions.

Just to mention a couple of examples, Albaniaoutlined principles of ethics in its 1996 CivilService Law. These principles were elaborated onby a decree on ethical rules by the Council ofMinisters in 1996. The decree outlines the needfor a declaration of interests and disciplinaryprocedures, while prohibiting the reappointmentof officials previously dismissed for corruption.As alluded to above, the Albanian paper notedthat since these provisions function within acontext of base civil service salaries being at orbelow poverty rates, the latter situation should beredressed.

In Hungary, the objective of the laws governingthe civil service is to ensure its neutrality whilerespecting the fundamental freedoms declared inits constitution. Some important restrictionsinclude civil servant not being able to representthe local government, operating in the same areaas the central government agency of his or heremployment. A civil servant can enter into a legalrelationship related to his or her work only withthe permission of his or her employer. Civilservants in managerial positions may not enterinto any legal relationship related to his or herwork except for scientific, teaching, artistic,editorial or intellectual activities, subject tocopyright protection. Civil servants may not holdan office of a political party or appear in publicon behalf of a party.

Regarding codes of ethics or codes of conduct,four countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary,Poland and Russia indicated that they existed insome form or were being contemplated. TheCzech Republic observed that certain groups ofpublic sector employees such as doctors, judges,attorneys have ethical codes which are governedby specific professional principles. Hungary waslooking to the OECD experience in developing aCode of Ethics and, since then, has adopted one.The paper on Hungary observed that a Codeprovides reliable standards of behavior inperforming duties of a civil servant. Further, theprocess of drafting such a Code and a knowledge


of its contents may preempt a number of disputes,workplace conflicts, and may enhance thecredibility and prestige of the civil service in theeyes of the public. Poland noted that in 1994, theMinister of the Interior issued a Decision toregulate or restrict the acceptance of gifts. Finally,Russia wrote that it was in the process ofpreparing a Code of Ethics.

Three countries mentioned setting up some kindof structure to carry out an overall anti-corruptioninitiative. Estonia mentioned creating two Parlia-mentary committees to deal with corruption andmonitor secret services. Georgia noted forming aspecial parliamentary committee to overseeproblems. In Latvia, the anti-corruption move-ment gained momentum in 1997. A two-dayconference for high-ranking civil servants washeld, using the Hong Kong experience as abenchmark and focusing on prevention,investigation, and civic education. A Council ofPrevention of Corruption was established by aCabinet decision and presided by the Minister ofJustice to coordinate the work of executiveinstitutions. Latvia also set up a programme for1997-2000, “The Clean Hands” Commission toinvestigate and address citizen complaints.

Others also mentioned measures to improvetransparency and accountability in governmentoperations. To enhance the transparency of itsgovernment procedures, Greece gives its citizensmore access to information and introduced servicestandards, as a result of legislation introduced in1986. Moreover, the office of the Ombudsmanensures a certain measure of accountabilitytowards its citizens. The Ombudsman is anindependent authority, chosen by the Council ofMinisters. The Ombudsman is appointed bypresidential decree for a five-year, non-renewableterm. In Poland, parliament exercises directcontrol over state finances through its Commis-sion for Economic Policy, Budget and Financeand by the Supreme Chamber of Control, whichaudits departments and agencies and oftenpublicizes its findings. Slovenia has also recentlyintroduced an Ombudsman. However, the papernotes that the short period since its establishment

is insufficient to judge its effectiveness.

In addition to the above-mentioned preventivemeasures, the Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia andPoland specifically mentioned strengtheninginvestigation to detect illegal or corrupt activities.

The Czech Republic set up a special unit withinthe Police Service for the Detection of Corruptionand Serious Penal Activities. This unit iscomposed of an analytical centre and territorialunits in large urban areas. Under its Constitution,an Investigative Commission of the Chamber ofDeputies, endowed with broad powers, can be setup for high profile cases.

Greece mentioned special bodies of inspectorssuch as Financial Inspectors and the FinancialCrime Confrontation Body under the Minister ofFinance. There are also Administrative Inspectorsunder the Minister of Interior and PublicAdministration, set up to increase public scrutinyof the bureaucracy, combat corruption, andimprove effectiveness of specific policies. Polandstated that inside every government agency, thereis an internal control unit to detect anyirregularities and present them to relevantauthorities. Inside police and border guard offices,special cells and units have been formed tocombat economic crime. Also, there are a numberof specialized state bodies such as the State TradeInspectorate and the State Inspectorate for theProcurement and Processing of AgriculturalProduce.

Most of the papers recognize the role oflegislation in providing a basis for prosecutingand sanctioning corruption and crime. Specificlegislation were mentioned by the CzechRepublic, Georgia, Hungary, Poland and theUkraine. A good example of having a legalframework in place is the Czech Republic. ItsPenal Code provides a definition of briberyacceptance and offer (with punishment beinggreater if the act has been committed by a publicservant), indirect bribery, and abuse of publicoffice. Further, the Act Preventing the Legaliza-tion of Criminal Profits facilitates the detectionand prevention of money laundering. This act


requires financial institutions to identify parties tocertain business transactions, to notify financialand customs institutions of “unusual businesstransactions”, and to delay the execution ofcertain order. The Public Procurement Act setspolicy on awarding public contracts, overseen bythe Office for the Protection of EconomicCompetition. The act ensures that properprocedures to be followed, such as the opening oftender envelopes in the presence of more than oneperson, and sanctions infractions. TheCommercial Code oversees the competitionpolicy and provides legal protection against unfaircompetition.

The paper on the Czech Republic notes thatalthough the legal framework is in place, some ofthe measures are being implemented slowly byjudicial and executive agencies. It elaborated thatthese organizations must learn to implement lawsin a correct and consistent manner. It is necessaryto change the whole cultural environment so thatthe activities of the respective public authoritieselicit a positive response from the wider public.

Related to strengthening legal provisions tofacilitate the prosecution of corruption, the CzechRepublic and Poland also mentioned legalmeasures to detect and apprehend organizedcrime. For instance, the Czech Republic amendedits criminal law to assist in the detection andapprehension of organized crime members. Theseinclude defining criminal association, strictprosecution of perpetrators, conditions forinformation acquisition in the face of banksecrecy, fund freezing in banks, broadeningwitness protection, and recognizing foreign courtverdicts, and new police methods such as the useof special agents. Poland has special units forcombatting crime and gangs in the Ministry ofJustice and 11 provincial prosecutor’s offices.

Clearly, Central and Eastern European countriesare introducing measures both to encourage highstandards of conduct and laying down a frame-work to enforce and punish corruption. Thesemeasures are especially crucial, given that thisregion is plagued by high levels of corruption andlinks to organized crime. As indicated by the low

ranking in terms of public integrity of some of thecountries in this region in the TransparencyInternational Corruption Perception Index of thepast few years, efforts in the ethics and anti-corruption areas need to be stepped up. Withoutthem, the region risks suffering from a furtherwithdrawal of investment, an accelerated erosionof the rule of law, and severely weakenedfinancial management.

The way forwardThe way forwardThe way forwardThe way forward

During the conference, participants delineated thevalues and goals of “good governance” whichshould guide public service reforms: rule of law,democratic control and accountability, transpar-ency, professionalism, high ethical values, subsi-diarity, and equal treatment of citizens. Theylisted the many difficulties in upholding profes-sionalism in the face of short-lived, indecisivegovernments and inadequate resources. They alsocame up with suggestions to tackle difficultiessuch as making training more practical andeffective, focusing on managerial competence,and restoring prestige to the public servicethrough means such as increasing compensation.

They acknowledged that corruption and crime areproblems common to all countries and discussedthe various aspects of an “ethics infrastructure”which would set in place the requisite legal andoversight framework, public service conditions,and training to minimize corrupt and unethicalbehaviour. Two special panels examined someactual cases of public service reform in the regionand of civil society organizations’ involvementand contribution to promoting professionalismand ethics in the public service. Several partici-pants observed that the role of civil societyorganizations is crucial and growing in con-straining unethical behaviour in the publicservice. They are crucial in the overallgovernance process.

There was a widespread view that the conferencehad considered crucial and timely issues, not onlyfor Central and Eastern Europe but for a world inthroes of rapid change. The participants suggestedthat the United Nations consider developing a


Charter of Good Governance and Public Service(on the model of the Charter of Local Self-Government or the Citizen’s Charter), possiblybased on the United Nations International Code ofConduct for Public Officials (see Annex 1). Someparticipants expressed an interest in a follow-upconference on the same themes while othersmentioned the usefulness of holding a regionalconference on local governance.

All in all, the participants highlighted the value ingathering to discuss common problems and dif-ferent ways to approach them. They concludedthat, in effect, public services everywhere are “intransition”—that is, seeking to reform and im-prove themselves to meet the challenges of arapidly changing world.

Chapter 3:

Cases in Countries in AdjustmentCases in Countries in AdjustmentCases in Countries in AdjustmentCases in Countries in Adjustment1111

Adjustment in AfricaAdjustment in AfricaAdjustment in AfricaAdjustment in Africa

Accumulated debts, a rapidly increasing1

population,the spread of HIV/AIDS, inter-ethnicconflicts, and ecological disasters contribute to ageneral perception that Africa is a continent incrisis. However, it is also a continent with richhistories, an abundance of natural wealth andpromise of human resources. Since the 1980s,many countries in the region have been under-taking macro-economic structural adjustmentprogrammes, supported by the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Theobjectives of these programmes have been toimprove and strengthen a country’s balance ofpayment position and enhance its economicgrowth.

The basic components of structural adjustmentprogrammes include increasing revenues, im-proving the tax administration system, developingthe financial sector and strengthening banksupervision, encouraging private sector develop-ment, controlling public expenditures, andstreamlining public administration. It is withinthis final component that public service reformhas been taking place.

Under these programmes, many African govern-ments have attempted major policy reforms, withmixed results. On the one hand, as a result ofthese reforms, decision-making processes aregradually devolving to lower levels ofgovernment and out to civil society institutions.There have been attempts to encourageentrepreneurship and the growth of the privatesector. There has been spreading politicalliberalization with an increasingly active civilsociety, calling for accountable and transparentpolitical systems. One result has been anincreasing number of multi-party presidentialelections in the 1990s. In the past five years, a

number of countries—noteworthy are Botswana,Mauritius and Uganda—have made great strideseconomically, with annual gross domestic product(GDP) growth rates of higher than 4%.2

On the other hand, the external debt of Africancountries rose from US $340 billion in 1996 toUS $349 billion in 1997, an increase of nearly 3per cent. Debt servicing alone amounted to $33billion, taking up 21.3% of earnings from theexport of goods and services.3 In fact, over thepast 15 years, the per capita income in sub-Saharan Africa has been declining at an averagerate of about 1 per cent per annum. At present,more than two thirds (32 out of 48) of the leastdeveloped countries are in Africa, with about 50%of the region’s population living in absolutepoverty.4 Although perhaps not directly attribut-able to structural adjustment programmes, healthand nutrition standards have fallen, in the face ofshrinking national budgets. Armed conflicts in anumber of countries have created 20 millioninternally displaced persons, in addition to the 6million refugees already on the continent.

This seemingly insurmountable situation must beovercome by establishing peace and good gover-nance, managing the development process, andtrying to integrate and compete in the globalmarketplace. These are the tasks for the presentand future leadership of the continent, even as thepublic services, that should assist them in theendeavour, are now being scaled down andrestructured. This change is a difficult one forpublic servants to face. The public service, as aninstitution, has a venerable history in post-colonial countries. The best and brightest werecalled in to set up administrations within the con-

1 This chapter is a summary of the 1998 RabatConference.

2 UNDP, First Regional Cooperation Framework forAfrica, 1997-2000, p. 5.

3 ECA, African Economic Report 1998, p. 7.

4 Op. cit, UNDP, p. 4.

Cases in Countries in Adjustment 23

text of nation building exercises. They were anintegral part of the promise for the future. Now,many public servants have expressed a sense ofdemoralization and a loss of prestige as the insti-tution in which they were called to serve is one ofthe targets of downsizing. Within this context, itis a crucial time to revitalize the public serviceand reconstitute its professionalism and ethics.

United Nations Conference onUnited Nations Conference onUnited Nations Conference onUnited Nations Conference onCivil Service in AfricaCivil Service in AfricaCivil Service in AfricaCivil Service in Africa

In recent years, many countries in Africa havebeen linking the issue of integrity of leadershipand institutions to economic and social develop-ment. Sponsored by the United Nations, a numberof conferences have been organized around thistheme. The Pan-African Conference of Ministersof Civil Service, in 1994, expressed concern overthe decline in the professionalism and prestige ofthe African public service and emphasized theneed for measures to strengthen the performanceand morale of public servants. In 1998, the themeof the Second Pan-African Conference of Mini-sters of Civil Service,was Civil Service in Africa:New Challenges, Professionalism and Ethics(more below). In 1997, the African RegionalMinisterial Workshop on Organized Transna-tional Crime and Corruption in Senegal called forsupport for more action in fighting crime andcorruption.

Further, the theme of the 1998 Second AfricaGovernance Forum in Ghana, sponsored byUnited Nations Development Programme(UNDP) with the support of UNDESA, wasTransparency and Accountability. During theForum, corruption emerged as one of the majorissues of accountability and transparency, giventhe negative impact of all its manifestations ondevelopment. Also in 1997, the Southern AfricanUniversities Social Science Conference(SAUSSC) in Zambia passed a resolution, callingfor democratic governance, ethical behaviour,public accountability and the control ofcorruption in Africa.

The most recent of the above-mentionedconferences was the Second Pan-African

Conference of the Ministers of Civil Service.5

From 13-15 December 1998, in Rabat, Morocco,civil service ministers from 35 African countriesand other experts focused on measures to enhancethe role, Professionalism and ethics of the civilservice as an institution. The event, which wasjointly organized by the African Training andResearch Centre in Administration for Develop-ment (CAFRAD) and United Nations Departmentof Economic and Social Affairs, Division forPublic Economics and Public Administration, washosted by the Kingdom of Morocco.

The countries represented were Algeria, Angola,Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, CapeVerde, Central African Republic, The Comoros,the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côted’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia,Ghana, Equitorial Guinea, Lesotho, Libya,Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius,Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria,Sao Tome & Principe, South Africa, the Sudan,Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

In addition, a number of regional andinternational organizations, such as the AfricanDevelopment Bank (AFDB), the Association ofAfrican Trade Promotion Organizations(AATPO), the Eastern & Southern AfricanManagement Institute, the Economic Commissionfor Africa (ECA), the Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO), the International LabourOrganization (ILO), the Islamic DevelopmentBank, the Islamic Educational Scientific andCultural Organization (ISESCO), l’Observatoire

5 It is important to place the Rabat Conference in the contextof it being a follow-up event to the first Pan-AfricanConference of Ministers of Civil Service which was held inTangier four years previously. The Tangier conference wasseminal in that the participating ministers requested theUnited Nations to review the importance of publicadministration to economic and social development. Thishappened two years later in New York. The GeneralAssembly adopted Resolution A/RES/50/225 (see Annex 4)which emphasized the need to strengthen all governmentcapacity, including civil service reform and human resourcesmanagement. In so doing, the role of the public service in thedevelopment process was placed squarely on the globalagenda.


des Fonctions Publiques Africaines (OFPA), andthe Organization of the Islamic Conference werealso present.

The participants discussed how to reposition theircountries’ civil services in the wake of a down-turn in the global economy and structuraladjustment policies and in the face of globali-zation and rapid technological advances. Theyconceded that everywhere, the need for aprofessional and ethical civil service has neverbeen greater than now. With globalization,spreading democratization, a shift in balancebetween the state and market forces, and changingsocial mores, civil servants have to operate in arapidly changing environment. In developingcountries, their jobs are further complicated by alack of basic infrastructures, a weak andunenforced legal system, often resulting in abreakdown of law and order, the politicization ofthe bureaucracy, low levels of pay, inadequatetraining, and so on.

At the conclusion of the conference, theparticipants adopted the Rabat Declaration (seeannex 5). It calls for a Public Service Charter inAfrica to affirm the values of the public serviceprofession, a consultation process for a UnitedNations Day for Public Service and Development,and for the United Nations to continue intechnical cooperation to improve professionalism,strengthen integrity, and combat corruption in thepublic service. The delegates also called oninternational financial institutions and other donorpartners to allocate additional resources tofacilitate public administration reforms.

This chapter is a synthesis of the issues presented,discussions held, and conclusions and recom-mendations that resulted from the conference. Theparticipants considered how to make the publicservice more responsive, despite the cutbacksassociated with structural adjustmentprogrammes. The chapter also attempts to sketchout what is actually taking place in the region,although on a limited basis, based on writtenreports and discussions held. The reports anddiscussions gave a flavour of national experiencesin promoting public service professionalism and

ethics in the region.


The role of the public service to the developmentof countries in Africa is now more important thanever before. On the threshold of a new millen-nium, the economic, social, technological, andinstitutional challenges that face Africa need to beaddressed and overcome by the countries in theregion.

The public service needs to adapt to the impactsof globalization and economic liberalization inorder to serve its country to achieve better eco-nomic performance, through fostering investmentand trade. Public servants need to redesign theirorganizational infrastructure for the managementof enterprises, use a strategic approach and culti-vate new service provision modalities, invest inbusiness networks, and assist in fostering trustbetween small and medium enterprises and thebanking and financial institutions. They cananticipate and plan for consequences of actions bymultinational corporations or regional cartelswhich may adversely affect their nationaleconomy.

This new focus may require a shift in the role ofthe public servants from simply passively obeyingorders to actively seeking out ways to assist thebusiness community. “African public serviceswill be required to a much greater extent than inthe past to create a market environment that isfavourable to investment and to make ‘economicintelligence’ in the service of entrepreneurship thebulwark of their policies.”6

In many countries, the social challenges stemfrom an increasingly widening income gapbetween different social strata. Despite significantsuccesses in increasing life expectancy at birth insub-Saharan Africa and raising adult literacy

6 Abdelouahad Ourzik, “The Public Service in Africa:New Challenges,” a paper presented at the Second Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Civil Service onCivil Service in Africa: New Challenges,Professionalism and Ethics, 1998, p. 7.


within the past 30 years, the highest rates ofmorbidity and mortality around the globe are inAfrica. These trends show that there are manybasic needs which are going unmet in the region.“The development of civil society and associativeorganizations cannot in a period of crisis be inand of itself a solution or pretext for thedisengagement of the public service, particularlywhen the challenge is to combat the effects ofunemployment and the exclusion of thevulnerable social classes or to fight againstilliteracy and poverty.”7

On the one hand, public servants in Africa arebeing asked to operate within an environment inwhich more services are being deregulated,delegated to the private sector, and devolved tothe local level. On the other, they are asked tobalance this state withdrawal from the economywith maintaining social cohesion and solidarity,particularly in areas such as health, education, andpublic utilities—including drinking water andelectricity. The challenge is somehow to shieldthe most socially vulnerable from the harsheffects of economic liberalization. This challengecomes at a time when resources are alreadystretched to the point where even basic needscannot be met.

One hope which is being held out everywhere as aquick escape from economic stagnation and socialdislocations is technology. As the global,knowledge-based economy increasingly rewardsintellectual innovations and service industries,technology is being seen as a way to leapfrog intoa more advanced stage of economic development.However, to harness the benefits of technology, abasic infrastructural platform and a highly skilledworkforce is needed. In addition, there is the riskthat the gains from technological advances wouldmerely further polarize a society in terms ofaccess to opportunities and services. Publicservants have enormous influence on thedecisions that are made about the priority of therole of technology in their national developmentstrategies. They need to become well-informed

about the different options and appropriate levelsof technology which would best fit theircountries’ situations.

The external economic, social and technologicalchallenges facing the public service in turn createinternal cultural and “existential” challenges. Inmost of the countries in Africa, public servantsare working within administrations bequeathed byformer colonial powers. “The former colonialadministration in no way resembled the ‘jacobin’bureaucratic model, and the new African States infact inherited a bureaucratic model largelypatched together by the colonizers in response tothe imperatives of conquest, day-to-day manage-ment and maintaining order....”8

This heritage has emphasized a conformity torules at the detriment of meeting goals orachieving results. This bureaucratic thinkingrequires a cultural change for public servants tomeet the external challenges described above. Inpractical terms, this type of change requires aspirit of cooperation and coordination amonggovernment departments and more consultationwith the citizenry, as users of public services.9

In fact, considering the role of the citizenry andthe underlying relationship between the state andcivil society is the basis of the “existential” chal-lenge that public services in Africa face. With thevery foundation of its institution being shaken bydeteriorating conditions of service and the lower-ing of its prestige, what is the “raison d’être” ofthe public service in Africa today? The effective-ness of the public service in the developmentprocess ultimately will depend on how publicservants can lift their countries out from extremepoverty, the scourge of conflicts, debilitatingdiseases, and the growing inequality among the

7 Ibid., p. 7.

8 Dominique Darbon cited in Benoît Ndi Zambo’s“Towards a culture of cooperation and quality in theAfrican Public Administration,” a paper presented atthe Second Pan-African Conference of Ministers ofCivil Service on Civil Service in Africa: NewChallenges, Professionalism and Ethics, 1998, p. 17.

9 See Ndi Zambo’s paper.


different social strata. Further, public servantsmust improve the quality of their services andinvolve their clients in the process. Their role is ashift from one of authority to one of leadershipand facilitating inclusiveness. “In order topromote the role, professionalism and ethicalvalues of African public administrations, leader-managers will be needed, endowed with a strongview of public service....”10

In practice, what the countries reported in termsof their public administration reforms addressedmany of the concerns raised above. To illustratewith only a few examples, Morocco is deconcen-trating its ministry structures to better reach thepublic. It reported rationalizing and modernizingthe human resources management of the civilservice, through updating civil service legislationand adapting regulations accordingly. In addition,it is instituting a good governance charter thatstresses ethics, cutting bureaucratic redtape, andbetter communication. The focus of its activitieshas been to better involve and serve ordinarycitizens.

Malawi also reported a focus on improvinghuman resources management by establishing aperformance and skills related salary structure.With the assistance of the World Bank, thecountry has been increasing the remuneration ofskilled staff at middle and senior levels. The goalof these reforms has been to improve theefficiency of service delivery.

Mauritius has been modernizing its publicadministration through three major thrusts ofinstitutional reforms. First, it is trying to set up“One Stop Shops” to make public services easierto use for the citizens. Second, it is utilizinginformation technology in policy developmentand collecting basic data. Third, it is trying toadopt Total Quality Management, based on theSingaporean model, to increase productivity andraise service quality.

A common thread through these reports is a shiftin focus from public servants in positions of

authority to one in service. Moreover, they eitheraim to increase or rely on the professionalism ofpublic servants.


With the advent of the modern state, by and large,the role of the public service and a need for itsneutrality, impartiality, integrity and competenceis widely acknowledged. To promote profession-alism in the public service, the merit principleneeds to provide the foundation for all humanresources management actions—from recruitmentand selections for promotions to fair remunerationand disciplinary procedures. Moreover, manycountries are trying to promote cultural changesamong their public servants by turning from thenotion of being a faceless bureaucrat, followingorders, to adopting a more entrepreneurial, pro-active, service-oriented attitude and involving theusers of public services. As illustrated by theexamples cited above, this is also true in manyAfrican countries.

“If we are to avoid the failures experienced byprevious attempts at reform, it is necessary,however, to incorporate historic, economic andsocio-cultural data that are characteristic of theAfrican continent.”11 First, because the privatesector is struggling and a civil society is still inembryonic stages, the role of the state and itsadministrative apparatus is larger in guiding thedevelopment process of a nation than in westerncountries.

Second, the post-independence legacy of a single-party state and its control over the administrationhas resulted in a highly politicized public service.“Politics played a major role in decision-makingand was deeply involved in the management ofpersonnel....The increase in the powers of thepolitical class to the detriment of the power ofadministrative managers resulted in, among other

10 Ibid., p. 19.

11 Turkia Ould-Daddah, “Restoring Professionalism tothe Public Service in Africa,” a paper presented at theSecond Pan-African Conference of Ministers of CivilService on Civil Service in Africa: New Challenges,Professionalism and Ethics, 1998, p. 13.


things, a spirit of clannishness becomingentrenched, with its network of nepotism andfavouritism, which is particularly manifest inappointments within the administrativestructure.”12

Third, if public service professionalism is toinclude more responsive services to citizens, thenit is necessary to take into account the socio-cultural values of Africans, especially ruralAfricans. A “review may provide an opportunityfor (African countries to) dialogue with theirpartners in the industrialized countries to examinetogether the ways of reconciling contradictions ordefining complementarities between the values ofa professional public service in a modern Stateand the values held by users and partners of theadministration, and even by public servantsthemselves.”13

Bearing this African context in mind, some toolsand measures may be more likely to succeed inpromoting professionalism in the public service.For any public service reform to succeed, it needsto be integrated into the overall reform of thestate. Thus, public servants need to be attune tothe needs of the private sector and civil society, inorder to better carry out their functions. Publicservice professionalism and performance becomeessential parts of a good governance equation.Further, the legal framework remains a keyinstrument, by clearly setting out the rights andduties of civil servants. The professional advance-ment of public servants must be dependent onaccepted criteria of efficient performance. Thismay reduce political bias of some public servantsand encourage them to treat all citizensimpartially and equitably in accordance with thelaw.

At the same time, public servants themselvesshould be guaranteed neutrality and shielded frompolitical actions. This legal framework should beaccompanied by more transparency and openness

on the part of government for citizens to monitorits performance. Evaluation and budget controlwould also make public servants more responsiblefor their decisions. Finally, administrative profes-sionalism cannot be developed overnight. It needstime and efforts from all stakeholders. Training isessential for this type of attitudinal change.African socio-cultural values have to be exam-ined, in order to integrate the values of themodern state such as the rule of law, upholdingpublic interest, and the merit principle inadministration.

In terms of actual country experience, a range ofinitiatives to promote professionalism wasreported. Two interesting examples included anintroduction of a Charter of Public Services andstrengthened civil service reforms that resultedfrom multi-party elections.

Tunisia has recently instituted a Charter of PublicServices which attempts to clarify the publicadministration-client relationship. It spells out therights and obligations of each party as well as theregulations which govern the service provider anduser relationships. It covers the fundamentalprinciples underlying public services, rulesgoverning administrative decisions and proce-dures, the rights and obligations of publicofficials and the need for protecting publicservices, the participation and representation ofclients, and the access to information andprotecting the rights of citizens.

Since Malawi gained independence in 1964, it hasbeen under a one-party political system for 30years. During this period, three commissionsreviewed the public service and made recommen-dations for its reform, with various levels ofensuing implementation.14 In 1994, multi-partyelections were held, and the resulting government

12 Ibid., p. 14.

13 Ibid., p. 16.

14 Department of Human Resources Management andDevelopment of Malawi, (C. P. Msosa), “PublicService in Malawi: New Challenges, Professionalismand Ethical Standards,” a paper prepared for theSecond Pan-African Conference of Ministers of CivilService on Civil Service in Africa: New Challenges,Professionalism and Ethics, 1998, pp. 3-7.


launched a public sector reform programme, theInstitutional Development Project, with the WorldBank.

One aftermath of the elections was an increasingpressure for the public service to demonstrateneutrality, integrity, courtesy, expertise anddedication. A Public Service Act waspromulgated in 1994 to provide equal access topublic employment, merit based recruitment andpromotion, and increasedpredictability/accountability/ transparency in civilservice policies and practices. In addition, anAnti-Corruption Bureau and the Ombudsman’sOffice were established. Further, an effort to trimthe civil service (which was 11,000 atindependence, had grown to 50,000 by 1987, androse to 113,000 in 199515) was instigated in orderto reduce public sector wage bill. Both the sizeand the costs have been growing at an alarmingrate.

The essence of the civil service reform was toimprove personnel management and control,reduce its size, establish a performance-and-skills-based salary structure and increase remunerationof senior public servants to reflect those in theprivate sector, within budgetary constraints.

Based on the issues discussed and country reports,in Africa, there is clearly a concern about andactivities undertaken to make the public serviceless authoritarian and more responsive to a moredemanding citizenry. However, this situation isfurther complicated by resource constraints,leading to a pressure to downsize the publicservice. With politicization and, at times, aconfusion between organizational and socio-cultural values, attempts to promote profession-alism becomes more complicated. This situationis also true for trying to enhance ethics.


“In modern pluralistic societies, the definition ofwhat is fair, just, right, wrong, moral andequitable is diverse.…Individual ethics, in aword, is a necessary but not significant conditionfor trustworthy action in public sector admini-stration.”16 Because of the public trust conferredupon them, public officials need to put publicinterest above their own. This means that theyshould take cognisance of social and communityvalues and not substitute their own value choicesfor those of the society. Professional ethics guidespublic servants to observe and resolve conflicts ofvalues in carrying out their official duties.

Some common ethical dilemmas that publicservants confront in the course of their dutiesrevolve around administrative discretion, corrup-tion, nepotism, pressure for conformity, admini-strative secrecy, information leaks, publicaccountability, policy conundrum, pressure groupinfluence, and public scrutiny.17 Theresponsibility for maintaining standards andcreating an environment for good ethical conductin the public service falls largely on the publicservice itself. As elsewhere, a number ofmeasures or strategies have been adopted inAfrican countries to contain unethical behaviourand corruption. Generally, they include publicsector codes of ethics, improved remuneration,income/asset/gifts disclosure, administrativereform, policy and programme rationalisation,open procurement procedures, watchdogagencies, anti-corruption agencies, ombudsmen,supreme audit institutions, and scrutiny by civilsociety institutions and the media.

However, implementing these measures or strate-gies is a challenge in a region where many coun-tries have just come out of conflict, are in

15 Ibid., p. 18.

16 Joseph Ayee, “Ethics in the Public Service,” a paperpresented at the Second Pan-African Conference ofMinisters of Civil Service on Civil Service in Africa:New Challenges, Professionalism and Ethics, 1998, p.18.

17 Ibid., p. 5.


political crises, and have high disparities ofincome, among other factors. Where there iscrushing poverty, petty corruption can become amatter of survival. Where there is public toler-ance, grand corruption by the elite and theleadership can lead to the impoverishment and, insome cases, the collapse of a country. In thebureaucracy, corrupt tendencies in routine courseof government business can become entrenched.

These range from bribes being solicited, kick-backs, documents removed from files, fraudulentuse of government facilities and properties,payment for letters of recommendation forbusiness transactions, fraudulent travel docu-ments, ghost workers on payroll and embezzle-ment of public funds. In rural areas where thereare low levels of literacy, citizens must be shownthrough daily actions what is the proper conductof public officials. Despite the measures listedabove, some public servants continue to behaveunethically because they do not respect citizen’sentitlements to public services. In order to changethis situation, the private sector and civil societyneed to be mobilized. Civic education must begiven priority.

“War against corruption cannot succeed if thecommunity has come to accept it as a way of life.Therefore, public awareness needs to be arousedabout the evils of corruption and its implicationson the economic and social structures of society.This could be done through radio programmes,where traditional values of honesty, propriety andaccountability are used constantly in the mediafor education and entertainment purposes. Eachindividual in society must be willing to play therole of ‘a whistle blower’, supplemented by othermethods such as educational pamphlets, drama,posters, seminars, workshops and symposia.”18

Country experiences reported at the Rabat

Conference illustrate the range of conditionsfaced as well as practical solutions implementedin managing conduct in the public service. A feware described below.

The Central African Republic report poignantlycaptured the dilemma that many public servantsface.19 Starting during the mid-1970s, publicservants were paid irregularly. Although it isillegal to hold an outside job, in fact, many publicservants are obliged to “moonlight” in order tosurvive. There are public servants who work intheir plantations before carrying out the officialduties of the state. Still there are others who areconducting commercial activities on the side,directly violating written standards.

With these deteriorating conditions, the highmorale and level of professionalism manifestduring the 1960s began to decline. Under theseconditions, it is very difficult to find and promoteprofessionalism. However, the Civil ServiceMinistry began implementing the general civilservice statute in 1996, to try to diffuse a spirit ofreform through the press and the radio. The aimsof the broadcasts were to explain to civil servantsand political parties about the role of the civilservice, its basic philosophy, and the benefits of awell-functioning administration. The ministry alsotried to justify its interventions in humanresources management. As a result, the countrypaper reported that more public servants areadhering to the requirements of the civil servicestatute.

Other countries have recently set up institutions toinvestigate complaints against public servants andresolve disputes. In Sudan, the most directlyinvolved agency in the prevention of corruption inpublic office is the Department for CombattingUnlawful and Doubtful Enrichment. This depart-

18 Miria Matembe, “A Response to Joseph Ayee’s paperon Ethics in the Public Service,” a paper presented atthe Second Pan-African Conference of Ministers ofCivil Service on Civil Service in Africa: NewChallenges, Professionalism and Ethics, 1998, p. 6.

19 Ministre de la Fonction Publique, du Travail et de laFormation Professionnelle de la RépubliqueCentrafricaine, “Expériences de la RépubliqueCentrafricaine,” a paper prepared for the Second Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Civil Service onCivil Service in Africa: New Challenges,Professionalism and Ethics, 1998.


ment investigates public officials accused ofabuse of power or having unlawful gains. Sudanalso reported having established an Ombudsman’sBureau, attached to the President’s Office, in1996. This bureau carries out normal control andinspection functions. In addition, a GrievancesChamber was established in 1994 at thePresident’s Office to handles citizens’ complaintsabout government procedures. The Civil ServiceAppeals Board handle and redresses grievances ofthe civil servants. In 1998, Uganda created aMinistry of Ethics and Integrity which works withthe Inspectorate of Government and the PublicService Ministry. At present, this ministry isreviewing the Code of Conduct for the PublicService.

With crushing poverty in many countries inAfrica, the phenomenon of “survival corruption”,where corruption has become a way of life, needsto be dealt with through meeting the basic needsof the populace and public servants. At the sametime, other measures need to be applied to theprofession, to not only raise public confidencelevels in the public service but also to improve themorale of the public servants themselves.

As described above, the countries reported thatmany institutions were being set up to overseeconduct in the public service. The bigger chal-lenge, as is elsewhere, is to ensure that theyfunction properly with political independence andadequate resources. “Exceptional political andmanagerial determination and courage is neces-sary to enable African states to promote andmaintain reform and reduce public sectorcorruption....Where African governments do showa determination to improve public integrity, farmore attention needs to be given to questions oftiming and sequencing, consistency in approach,the details of reform and its sustainability, and theencouragement of the exceptional political andmanagerial persistence necessary to promote andsustain reform in this area.”20


As mentioned previously, the Rabat Conferenceconcluded with the adoption of the Rabat Decla-ration (see annex 5). The ministers and otherdelegates at the conference recognized that therecent political and economic changes haveplaced new responsibilities on public admini-strations in Africa. These include adapting to thegrowing globalization of the economy throughcreating an environment favouring private sectorgrowth, strengthening basic infrastructures forsocial development, and modernizingadministrative structures through utilizing newtechnologies, and creating a service-orientedpublic service.

They also underlined that structural adjustmentprogrammes have sometimes weakened thecapacity of the public sector. One remedy is topromote conditions which would enable thepublic service to attract and retain highly quali-fied employees, ultimately creating a service-oriented institution. Further, a well-performing,transparent, and accountable public service is anessential pre-requisite for a successful economicrecovery in Africa.

Finally, there was a call for various levels ofaction. At the global level, it was proposed todraw the attention of the international communityto the many challenges and current difficultiesfaced by countries in the region. At the regionallevel, there was a commitment to continue hold-ing regular meetings of public service ministers tocontinue the dialogue on these issues. Further, theconference organizers and sponsors wererequested to follow-up on the conference bydrafting a Public Service Charter for Africa and aCode of Conduct for African Civil Servants. Atthe national level, countries were asked to takenecessary measures to regenerate professionalismand promote ethics in their public administrations.Moreover, they were asked to reform civil servicecodes to introduce the principles of neutrality,transparency, flexibility and to stress ethics andintegrity. It was recommended that the countriesensure that human resources management wascarried out, based on the merit principle and that

20 Stephen P. Riley, “The Political Economy of Anti-Corruption Strategies in Africa”, in Corruption andDevelopment, edited by Mark Robinson, 1998, p. 154

training programmes for public servants beimproved and modernized.

Above all, the participants were encouraged to seesome measure of progress since the First Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Civil Service.In the same vein as the regional conference forCentral and Eastern Europe in Thessaloniki, there

was a recognition among participants that sharingproblems and ideas can greatly assist with reformsat the national level. Although the challengesfacing the region are numerous and daunting,participants not only exhibited a spirit ofcooperation but a new level of hope for the futureof Africa.

Chapter 4:

The Case of BrazilThe Case of BrazilThe Case of BrazilThe Case of Brazil1111

Managerialism in BrazilManagerialism in BrazilManagerialism in BrazilManagerialism in Brazil

Brazil is the largest country in Latin America, 1

covering more than 8.5 million square kilometers,with an estimated population of 157 million.2 It isa middle-income range country when compared toother countries in terms of its GDP. In 1996, itsper capita GDP was $US 4,743,3 GDP growth was2.9%, average consumer price inflation was16.5%, and foreign debt was US$ 172.4 billion.4

Brazil, like many other countries, is currentlyexamining and reforming the role of the state. Thelaunch of its state reform, in 1995, sought changesin the administrative chapter of its 1988 Consti-tution, in the public institutions defined by theirfunctions and place in the state sector, in theadministrative style from legal-rational tomanagerial, and in the social security system forpublic servants and other state sector employees.In 1995, there were about 580,000 federal civilservants, covered by the civil service law (downfrom 780,000 in 1989). This was out of about 1.2million public sector employees, including publicand joint capital companies. The average annualfederal public payroll expenditure as a per centage of GDP was 3.17% between 1988 and 1994

while the combined state and municipal publicpayroll expenditure was 6.53% for the sameperiod.5

Like many other countries, there was a fiscalimperative driving the reforms. Primarily, thegovernment sought changes to facilitate fiscaladjustment, introduce market-oriented economicreforms, and rationalize the social securitysystem. The Ministry of Federal Administrationand State Reform, in charge of the civil service,announced a managerial reform, to correspondwith these changes. The intent was to modernizethe civil service and emphasize quality service,performance, and professionalism.

Given these major changes, it was also consideredto be timely to add the issue of ethics in govern-ment. In addition to Brazil’s state reforms, therewere the events of its recent past—the last minuteresignation of its first directly elected president asa result of corruption charges in 1992 and a seriesof scandals during the past few years. To keep upwith overall state sector reforms, the public ser-vice needed to redefine values, ensure new ormodified standards of behaviour, and inspire itsmembers to higher levels of conduct, in the faceof change.

Brazil-United NationsBrazil-United NationsBrazil-United NationsBrazil-United NationsColloquium on Promoting EthicsColloquium on Promoting EthicsColloquium on Promoting EthicsColloquium on Promoting Ethicsin the Public Servicein the Public Servicein the Public Servicein the Public Service

In December 1997, about 300 participants

1 This chapter is a summary of the 1997 BrasiliaConference.

2 Instituto Brasileiro de Geographia e Estatistica, 1996.

3 The Economist Intelligence Unit, 1998.

4 Presidency of the Republic, Brazil, From Reform toGrowth, 1996.

5 Brazilian Ministry of Federal Administration andState Reform, 1995.


gathered in Brasilia to discuss Promoting Ethicsin the Public Service. They were mostly high-level, federal and state Brazilian public servants.Moreover, there were also representatives attend-ing from the legislative and judiciary branches ofgovernment, the business community, the media,the academy, and professional associations. Thetotal was double the expected number for thisfirst-of-its-kind event in the country, indicating ahigh level of interest.

The colloquium’s purpose was to discusspertinent issues and make suggestions to theBrazilian Council of State Reform. The Council,an advisory body to President Henrique Cardoso,sponsored the event to gain support and to makerecommendations for launching a national ethicsinitiative in the public service.

The idea of the colloquium was conceived in NewYork, during the Thirteenth Meeting of the Groupof Experts on the United Nations Programme onPublic Administration and Finance. A BrazilianCouncil of State Reform member who attendedbecame intrigued by the discussion on profession-alism and ethics. Upon his return, he proposedhosting an event on these themes, which was thensupported by the Brazilian Ministry of FederalAdministration and State Reform, the Bank ofBrazil, UNDP Brazil, and Hyundai company. Therole of the United Nations Department ofEconomic and Social Affairs, Division for PublicEconomic and Public Administration was toformulate the overall programme and providesubstantive support.

The colloquium organizers decided to focus onthe executive branch of government, and morespecifically the public service. In order to ensurethat any ethics initiative is spread around thecountry, they felt that both federal and state levelshad to be involved. Further, they concluded thatto make any ethics initiative a success, all part-ners in governance—the government, the privatesector and civil society—needed to play an activerole.

Although the issues discussed during the Collo-quium were placed in the Brazilian context, they

are universal in scope. The programme startedwith the questions, what are professional ethicsand, more specifically, what are civil serviceethics? This was followed by a discussion of thevalues which embody the essence of publicservice professionalism. Then a very concreteexample of the ethics programme in the UnitedStates was presented, to illustrate how thesevalues could be translated into a system ofworkable, manageable, and enforceable standards.Finally, the importance of involving actorsoutside of the public service—the private sectorand civil society—and their roles were debated.This was done through a presentation of theexperience of Great Britain and other countries inCentral and Eastern Europe. What resulted werepresentations and discussions that are relevant notonly to Brazil but to other countries, in eitherintroducing or making changes to their publicservice ethics management.


In Brazil, the classic bureaucratic model ofadministration was introduced in 1936.6 Thismodel advocated a professional public service,with promotions based on merit. However,despite the institution of competitive examina-tions and systematic training, a consistent humanresources policy was never fully adopted. Fromthe late 1970s to the mid-1980s, the militaryregime exacerbated this situation by circumvent-ing the professional bureaucracy and recruitingmanagers through state-owned corporations. Thispractice led to a weakening of the public serviceas an institution. Further, the promulgation of theConstitution in 1988 led to extreme bureaucraticrigidity. The legacy of combined patronage andbureaucratic inflexibility caused a deterioration ofthe quality of public administration in Brazil.

As mentioned previously, with increasing demo-cratization and a fiscal crisis—characterized by

6 Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira, “Managerial Reform inBrazil’s Public Administration,” paper presented to theCongress of the International Political ScienceAssociation, 1997, p. 6.

The Case of Brazil 33

the growing loss of credit in the public sector andnegative savings levels—Brazil has been under-taking broad reforms during the mid-1990s. Inaddition to fiscal adjustment, market-orientedeconomic reforms, social security reforms, therewas also a reform of public administration, con-sciously embracing “new public administration”or “managerialism”. For Brazil, managerial publicadministration “focuses on (1) a precise definitionof the objectives that the public administratorshould attain within his unit, (2) ensuring theautonomy of the administrator in the managementof human, material and financial resources so thathe can attain the contracted ends, and (3) after-wards control and accountability of results. At thesame time, managed competition is carriedforward within the State itself, wherever it ispossible to foster competition among internalunits.”7

Within this paradigm, the role of the publicservice is to serve the citizen as a taxpayer andclient of its services. Its activities are, foremost, tomeet the needs of the citizen-client, even if, attimes, administrative processes become asecondary consideration. In order to achieve thisultimate goal, the public service became charac-terized by more discretion and decentralizeddecision-making, flexible forms of management,more horizontal structures, and incentives forcreativity. What implications would this shiftfrom a rules-based toward a results-basedbureaucracy have for the professionalism andethics of the public service in Brazil?


Public service professionalism is underpinned bythe unique set of values upheld by its members.However, due to the multiplicity and complexityof changes which are currently taking placearound the globe, “possibly never before hascivilization required such high quality public

leadership and effective government.”8 Inreflecting upon public service professionalism,there are a number of values and principles to beconsidered: providing public benefits, enforcingthe rule of law, ensuring public responsibility andaccountability, setting an example, improvingprofessional performance, and promoting demo-cracy. “...Being professional means more than justemploying professionals or paying lip service toprofessional values. It requires a thorough under-standing of professionalism and strict adherenceto public norms of model behaviour.”9

During discussions, Brazilian public servantsnoted a loss of prestige of their public service asan institution. They attributed this decline toadministrative discontinuity, lack of adequatehuman resources policies, a deterioration of salarylevels, a lack of proper training, and poor quali-fication of public servants—particularly at themanagerial level. In fact, the admission of a lossof prestige was difficult to make, given the proudtradition of the respect that the public serviceused to command. The colloquium participantsalso indicated that the media emphasize onlynegative aspects of the public service, thuscrystallizing a distorted image of it in the public’seye. This biased position gives the public servicea bad image.

They concluded that professionalism depends ona merit system and working conditions that areconducive to serving the public. These factorsalso form the bedrock of ethical conduct in thepublic service.


Professional ethics involves using judgment, incarrying out one’s duties, according to a hierarchyof values and norms. For public servants, particu-larly for senior levels, this hierarchy is furthercomplicated by the multiple roles they play.

7 Presidency of the Republic, Brazil, State ReformCommittee, White Paper: Reform of the StateApparatus, 1995, p. 21/22.

8 Gerald Caiden, “The Essence of Public ServiceProfessionalism,” a paper presented at the Colloquiumon Promoting Ethics in the Public Service, 1997, p. 2.

9 Ibid., p. 15.


These include manager, political agent, memberof a profession, and individual person.10 Theseroles give rise to differing, and often conflicting,sets of values. The values engendered by the rolesare also supplemented by values corresponding toreigning administrative philosophies at a giventime. For example, probity, neutrality, and dueprocess would be the more prominent values in aclassic Weberian-type administration as opposedto efficiency, client-satisfaction, and results undera managerial administration. Since public servicevalues reflect broader societal values, there isoften uncertainty and even confusion in the publicservice during times of rapid social change. Giventhe current move towards broader democratizationand fiscal reform in its country, the Brazilianpublic service is looking to adopt complementaryvalues such as transparency, consultation,efficiency, and so on.

In the case of Brazil, Colloquium participantsagreed that the legal framework applicable toethical problems in the public service—from theConstitution to the Code of Ethics—is alreadywell-developed. (The Code of Ethics had beenadopted in 1994.) However, the implementationsare inadequate. A proposal for remedying thissituation was to adopt an overall method forimplementing statutory provisions already inforce.

In promoting ethical behaviour in the publicservice, there is a need to address public per-ception of corruption and the view that thoughlaws (including a Code of Ethics) are in place,they are not enforced. Many participants ex-pressed a necessity to shift from a negative andpunitive approach, found in the existing publicservice act, to a value-based system of clear butflexible rules and establishing institutions to dealwith them. They agreed that Brazil’s situation isnot a problem of inadequate legal structure butrather one of an accusatory environment, sup-ported by the media which often do not ade-

quately carry out investigations. In addition, thereis a lack of institutional follow-up in cases ofwrongdoing.


Although some tangible outcomes have beenachieved as a direct result of the colloquium, theBrazilian organizers felt that there is much left tobe done. The Brazilian Council of State Reform,which is composed of 12 presidential appointeesfrom business, the academy and the legal pro-fession, recommended that a code of conduct beapproved, covering ministers, vice-ministers andleaders at the highest level. In addition, a numberof agencies, including anti-trust and petroleumregulatory agencies introduced their own Code ofConduct, which was being supported by theCouncil.

In addition to these measures which have alreadybeen undertaken, participants recommended anumber of activities that dealt with publicinvolvement, improving the legal framework, andinstituting ethics as an integral part of humanresources management in the public service.

Regarding greater public involvement,participants suggested that more governmentopenness and transparency be demonstratedthrough means such as information disseminationon the Internet, televised congressional debates,and open executive agency meetings. They feltthat a focal point in government should be createdto debate ethical issues. Also, civic education atall levels and public campaigns for governmentethics should be conducted. More communityinvolvement should be encouraged throughsetting up citizens’ councils and other similartypes of mechanisms. To make government moreaccountable to its citizens, they recommended thatinstitutional mechanisms of complaint andcontrol, such as ombudsmen, should bedecentralized.

The simplification and modernization of the legaland administrative framework for managing thepublic service were also advocated. Many partici-pants suggested that principles of managerialadministration, focusing more on ends than

10 See Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira’s “Higher CivilService’s Ethics,” paper presented at the Colloquiumon Promoting Ethics in the Public Service, 1997.

The Case of Brazil 35

means, be better communicated. Mission state-ments and codes of ethics, created throughemployee participation, be instituted for all publicadministration institutions, on a decentralizedbasis. A central regulatory agency for procure-ment should be set up, and excessive bureaucraticcontrols in the procurement process should bereduced. In addition, procurement personnelshould receive special ethics training.

As for the public service itself, the participantsrecommended that employment conditions beimproved, through human resources policies thatare based on productivity, merit, professionalqualification, and adequate remuneration. In orderto screen for integrity, ethics should be included

as a criterion in recruitment exams. There shouldbe a universal policy on the acceptance of gifts.Finally, systematic ethics training for publicservants should be introduced as a part of humanresources management policies.

The case of Brazil shows how the issuesdiscussed at the regional level in Thessaloniki andRabat translate at the national level. AlthoughBrazil is a country in Latin America, it sharesmany of the concerns such as salary levels,adequate training, the involvement of privatesector and civil society, among others, withcountries in Central and Eastern Europe as well asthose in Africa.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Common IssuesCommon IssuesCommon IssuesCommon Issues

Development and governanceDevelopment and governanceDevelopment and governanceDevelopment and governance

“We live in an era of realignment....As is true ofall transitional periods, very different expressionsof the human predicament coexist in uneasytension today: globalization envelops the worldeven as fragmentation and the assertion ofdifferences are on the rise; zones of peace expandwhile outbursts of horrific violence intensify;unprecedented wealth is being created but largepockets of poverty remain endemic; the will ofthe people and their integral rights are bothcelebrated and violated; science and technologyenhance human life at the same time as theirby-products threaten planetary life-supportsystems. It is not beyond the powers of politicalvolition to tip the scale in this transition, towardsa more secure and predictable peace, greatereconomic well-being, social justice andenvironmental sustainability. No country canachieve these global public goods on its own,however, just as none is exempt from the risksand costs of doing without them.”1

The development agenda of the 1990s can be seenas being characterized by pragmatism. Now thatthe cold war has ended, countries can devote moreof their attention to the day-to-day problems ofimproving the quality of life of their populace.Although progress has been made on many fronts,countries still face considerable economic, poli-tical, social and technological obstacles to thisgoal in many parts of the world. Despite theefforts of and resources spent during the post-World War II era on the “development” ofcountries and peoples, many are far from beingable to provide the public goods, alluded toabove. In fact, access to these public goods isbecoming increasingly unequal, both amongcountries and among the different social strata

within countries.

With this sobering realization, there is areassessment of “the exercise of political,economic, and administrative authority in themanagement of a country’s affairs at alllevels”2—or governance. “Without goodgovernance—without the rule of law, predictableadministration, legitimate power and responsiveregulation—no amount of funding, no short-termeconomic miracle will set the developing worldon the path to prosperity. Without good gover-nance, the foundations of society—both nationaland international—are built on sand.”3

As the preceding chapters have shown, manycountries of Central and Eastern Europe, those ofAfrica, and Brazil itself face common conditions.These conditions include globalization, rapiddevelopments in technology and communication,growing democratization, and a better-informedand more vocal civil society, among other perti-nent factors. However, each region or countryalso faces conditions that are particular to itsregion. Thus good governance may requiredifferent emphases of actors, institutions, andactions— depending on the distinct but sharedconditions in a given region or the singularconditions of a country.

The role of the public service inThe role of the public service inThe role of the public service inThe role of the public service ingood governancegood governancegood governancegood governance

The public service is fundamental to goodgovernance. It is an integral part of democracybecause it serves as the neutral administrativestructure which carries out the decisions ofelected representatives of the people. The publicservice is the backbone of the state in

1 United Nations, Renewal Amid Transition: AnnualReport on the Work of the Organization, (A/52/1), 3September 1997.

2 UNDP, Governance for Sustainable HumanDevelopment, 1997, p. iv.

3 United Nations, Secretary-General’s Address to theUnited Nations Association of Canada,Toronto,(SG/SM/6412), 3 December 1997, (original in French).

Common Issues 37

implementing any strategy for economic growthof a nation. It provides the programmes andservices that function as the safety net for themost vulnerable segments of a society. “Anefficient administration means also a responsiveone. It does not lose sight of the fact thatgovernment is for people and that the objective ofpublic action and public services is to protecttheir rights and promote their well-being ashuman beings.”4

In Central and Eastern Europe, “those countrieswhich formerly practised centralized economicplanning by the state might be expected to con-front...managing a shift from a strong central stateto a weaker state that shares or competes forpower with transnational actors. In post-Communist countries, however, the collapse ofthe centrally planned economy created a crisis inwhich the role of the state was unclear.”5

Good governance in this region depends, first ofall, on clear redefinitions of the role of the state.As countries experiment with the scope,functions, and activities of the state, otherpartners in governance also experienceuncertainty. This fluid situation or “transitionphase” of experimentation, trials and errors, andsuccesses characterize how the institutions andresources of the state are managed. The publicservice, as a part of this experimentation, cancontribute to the vision of good governance in thecountries by facilitating the redefinition of therole of the state.

“Africa is the only region of the world where—ifpresent trends continue—poverty is expected to

increase in the next century. We have dissectedand debated Africa, and studied and summarizedits challenges, for decades. Now is the time foraction. We—and I speak not only of (theSecurity) Council, but of the United Nations andthe international community generally—mustrespond promptly and effectively to Africa’scall.”6

Good governance in Africa, as is the case in otherregions, depends on many factors such as soundleadership, encouraging grassroots participationin the governing process, accountability andtransparency of government, among others.However, development in the region depends onovercoming economic stagnation and heavy debtburdens that currently constrain many of itscountries. Structural adjustment programmes thatwere supposed to impose economic discipline donot seem to be having intended effects in manycases. A way needs to be found, out of the currentimpasse of the “structural adjustment phase” togenerate wealth and ensure its equitable distri-bution. The public service has a crucial role toplay in the economic recovery of the region byproviding solid foundations for economic growth,creating an enabling environment for the privatesector, and by responsibly managing scarce publicresources.

In Brazil, the current government won anothermandate during the elections of 1998. However,the country is faced with having to restore inves-tor confidence and curb a flight of foreign capitalthat threatened the economic stability of the coun-try just a few months prior to the election. Inorder to do this, the government is facing the needfor more fiscal austerity measures, based onsweeping reforms of the public service and itssocial security system. The challenge for the goodgovernance in this country is to achieve politicalconsensus, needed to carry out these deeplyunpopular reforms. For the public service, the re-election of the current government means a

4 Derry Ormond, (International Institute ofAdministrative Sciences), General Report: NewChallenges for Public Administration in the Twenty-first Century: Efficient Civil Service and DecentralizedPublic Administration, 1996, p. 29.

5 Steven Solnick, “Russia between States and Markets:Transnational and Subnational Pressures in Transition,”a paper presented at the Conference on Globalization,Politics and Economics in Comparative Perspective,Brasilia, 1998, p. 1.

6 United Nations, Secretary-General’s Statementdelivered at the Security Council’s ministerial meetingon the situation in Africa, 25 September 1997.


continuation of the “managerial phase” of itsreforms. How it carries out these reforms, in linewith the priorities of the nation, will contributesignificantly to good governance.

Everywhere, the manner in which the publicservice carries out its tasks will affect the natureof civil society, and ultimately, the socialcohesion and political stability of a country. Itscapacity to respond to citizens’ demands, promoteconsultation and participation, devolve anddelegate responsibility, and hold to clearstandards will determine the quality of thedemocracy of a nation. This is especially truewhere countries are characterized by frequentchanges of government, as the public service canbe the basis for administrative continuity betweenpower transitions. Most importantly, its ability forself-renewal will assure it of the flexibility neededto keep up with changing times andcircumstances. “As we all recognise, the civilservice is only as good as the people in it. Howthey are managed will affect fundamentally theway they interact with society. If they feel theyare exploited, they may well exploit others. Theirrespect for the legal and ethical framework withinwhich they work will be critical in this respect.”7

Promoting professionalismPromoting professionalismPromoting professionalismPromoting professionalism

As defined in Chapter 1, public service profes-sionalism is an overarching value that determineshow its activities will be carried out. In examiningthe proceedings of the three conferences, reportedin this volume, there are striking similarities inmany of the issues raised and practices described.There are also interesting differences in how theconcept of public service professionalism wasperceived by the participants of the threeconferences.

In terms of similarities, first, the participants at allthree conferences acknowledged the dominantrole of the state in the socio-economic develop-ment of their countries. In Central and EasternEurope, the private sector is in its infancy, since it

is being created as a direct result of public enter-prises being privatized. Further, under the Com-munist regime, there was little tolerance fordissenting views to those of the dominant party.As a consequence, independent civil societyinstitutions such as organized religion,professional groups, academic institutions andthink tanks, non-governmental organizations, andthe like did not have a chance to becomeestablished. Participants at the Rabat conferencealso noted the dominance of the state in thedevelopment of the post-independence phase oftheir countries. They noted that the long reign ofsingle-party states, that had inherited colonialadministrations, had also resulted in a weakprivate sector and civil society. In many Sub-Saharan countries, the development of thesegovernance partners have sometimes beenhampered by large rural populations with lowliteracy rates, a lack of familiarity with cash-based economies, and competing loyaltiesbetween traditional ties and modern institutions.In Brazil, the long period of military-rule had alsoleft a dominant state. However, the participants inBrasilia were proud to report on the recent growthof private enterprises and the resurgence of civilsociety institutions such as the church, tradeunions, and the media.

The participants at all three conferences pointedout that, however, with more political andeconomic liberalization in their countries, thedominance of the state should correspondinglydiminish. This shifting balance in the partnershipin governance among the major actors has a directbearing on public service professionalism. Publicservants must now become more outward looking,consultative, and responsive to the needs ofbusinesses and community groups. The con-ference participants urgently noted the need forcivic education among the rural populations, topromote the rights and obligations of citizenshipin a modern state. Public servants, as profes-sionals, have a duty to treat all citizens equally,fairly, and courteously. They can be a part of thiscivic education by exhibiting exemplary conduct.

Second, the politicization of the bureaucracy was7 Op. cit., Ormond, p. 31.

Common Issues 39

identified as a major stumbling block to publicservice professionalism, at all three conferences.This politicization was directly linked to thelooming role of the state in the socio-economicdevelopment of the represented countries. The“nomenklatura” in Central and Eastern Europeancountries—as mentioned in Chapter 2, personalitycults in African countries, and patrimonialism inBrazil resulted in nepotism, cronyism and favouri-tism. As a result, political affiliations became thedominant criterion in a public service career. Theblatant disregard for the merit principle led to abreakdown of required competencies, importantskills, and professional attitudes. In sum, themorale of the public service was badly affected.Countries reported introducing initiatives aimedat reversing the effects of politicization such astrying to shield the neutrality of the public servicethrough laws and regulations, instituting fairrecruitment and promotion procedures, andtraining to upgrade the skills of public servants.

Third, representatives at all three conferencesrecognized the significance of being responsive tousers of public services. They saw this respon-siveness as a crucial ingredient ofprofessionalism, growing in importance in thefuture. As noted above, with the growth of theprivate sector and civil society in Central andEastern Europe and Africa, the citizens in theseregions are making more demands for more andbetter services. As the state retreats on manyeconomic and social fronts, it becomes even moreessential for public servants to meet the demandsof other governance actors. A special panel on therole of civil society at the Thessalonikiconference noted the growing numbers of actorsin governance and the role they could play inassisting public servants to attain higher levels ofprofessionalism. In Rabat, many participantscalled for popular civic education. They stressedthe need for attitudinal change among publicservants to orient them towards a moreprofessional service culture. In Brasilia, theparticipants recommended that government bemore accessible to the public through disseminat-ing information on the Internet, televising parlia-mentary debates, and opening appropriate govern-

ment meetings to the public.

In terms of differences, each of the threeconferences stressed and examined differentaspects of professionalism. The Thessalonikiconference presentations focused on the basicfunctions of public servants: policy advice, publicmanagement, and performance measurement. Theparticipants discussed the way these functionswere approached in their countries and sharednew developments in the way the functions werebeing approached at large. The Rabat conferencepresentation and discussions identified the crucialrole of cultural change. The participants notedthat in addition to legislative changes, revisedhuman resource management policies, and moretraining, the public service also needs to adoptnew values and attitudes of service. In Brasilia,the discussion around professionalism centeredaround the many different roles of a publicservant: manager, political agent, member of aprofession, and an individual person. Each ofthese roles come with its own set of values.Professionalism is brokering these competingvalues, guided by some enduring principles of thepublic service. They are providing public benefits,enforcing the rule of law, ensuring publicresponsibility and accountability, setting anexample, improving professional performance,and promoting democracy.

Enhancing ethicsEnhancing ethicsEnhancing ethicsEnhancing ethics

Chapter 1 also defined public service ethics. Itwas seen as broad norms that delineate howpublic servants should exercise judgment anddiscretion in carrying out their official duties.This section synthesizes the discussions of thethree conferences about enhancing public serviceethics, in terms of the similarities and differencesof issues and practices reported.

The three conferences showed a number of simi-larities. First, there was no hesitation in speakingabout corruption or unethical conduct; they werenot taboo subjects. In Thessaloniki, the partici-pants observed that petty circumvention of ex-cessive rules had become entrenched as part ofdaily life under the communist system. It is now


difficult to suddenly abandon those ways and shiftto a more rules-based administration. In Rabat,the notion of “survival corruption” was discussed.When a population is used to living in extremeconditions of poverty and corruption becomes ameans of economic survival, it is difficult tochange behaviours until the external conditionsalso change. In Brasilia, participants focused onthe damage to public confidence in governmentbased on public perceptions of corruption andimmoral conduct. At all three conferences, anyreluctance to address ethics or corruption wasovershadowed by concerns about their threat tothe rule of law, democracy, and human rights.

Second, there were common national integritystrategies being advocated and, in many cases,reported in all three conferences. They includedclear and coherent legislative framework,including the relevant sections of the constitutionand criminal code, ethics or anti-corruption laws(that provide for financial disclosures, set giftpolicies, and outline other ethical rules), and anyother laws dealing with the conduct of andimpeachment procedures for high rankingofficials. Often, the provisions of this legislativeframework is communicated in a simplified waythrough a code of conduct. These provisions arefurther elaborated upon through personnelpolicies, which include ethics orientation, advice,and in-service training. Sometimes, specialtraining and incentives as well as extra scrutinyand oversight need to be in place for those publicservants who work in particularly vulnerableareas to corruption such as revenue collection,contracting and procurement, and licensing andregistration procedures.

In addition to these measures internal to thegovernment, external measures include civiceducation to inform citizens of their rights andproper administrative procedures. As well,professional organizations and unions overseestandards of their members in government.External measures also include a free but aresponsible press and other non-governmentalorganizations to keep the public informed ofgovernment activities, both good and bad. They

include private enterprises and chambers ofcommerce which also observe standards ofbehaviour that do not resort to bribing or undulyinfluencing public officials.

Third, all three conferences emphasized the roleof low salaries and compressed salary scales as amajor cause for corruption and unethical conductin the public service. The participants of theregional conferences in Thessaloniki and Rabat,in particular, discussed the prevalence of moon-lighting by public servants and other publicofficials to supplement their inadequate salaries.Although the issue of salary level was raised inBrasilia, it did not taken on the same prominenceas in the regional conferences. However, duringperiods of currency destabilizations and rapidinflation, public service salary levels willundoubtedly gain greater prominence indiscussing public service ethics.

Fourth, international cooperation was seen ascrucial to addressing those trans-nationalelements of public sector corruption as well assetting standards for countries to follow. TheThessaloniki conference recommended that theUnited Nations explore drafting a Charter ofGood Governance and the Public Service. ThisCharter would have to take into account thealready existing United National InternationalCode of Conduct for Public Officials. The Rabatconference adopted a recommendation for theconference organizers to draft an African PublicService Charter and a Code of Conduct forAfrican Civil Servants for the next Pan-AfricanConference of Ministers of Civil Service. TheBrasilia conference had a national focus asopposed to the regional focus of the other twoconferences. However, from the start of itsorganization, the sponsors were very conscious ofinvolving state level public servants to ensuresub-national cooperation in any national ethicsinitiatives that might be undertaken. At theconclusion of all three conferences, theparticipants expressed an appreciation for theopportunity to exchange views and shareexperiences.

There was not a lot of difference in the prevention

Common Issues 41

of and remedies for corruption in the discussionsheld at the two regional conferences in Thessalo-niki and Rabat. Both conferences witnessedpresentations that suggested measures rangingfrom institutional reform, specialized training,punishing major offenders, and involvinginstitutions outside of government. However, thediscussion in Brasilia was that the currentapproach to managing the conduct of publicservants is already too negative. The participantsfelt that a more aspirational approach, in additionto placing institutional safeguards such as betterprocurement procedures, would have betterresults in promoting ethics in the public service.Thus, participants in Thessaloniki stressed therole of civil society organizations in serving aswatchdogs of government and general promotersof ethics in society. Participants in Rabat stressedthe need to improve basic employment conditionssuch as salary levels, equipment, physical offices,and the like for public servants. Participants inBrasilia stressed more education about ethics forboth public servants and the society at large.

“No country is immune from corruption, andmany are especially vulnerable because of theirweak laws and institutions. Corruption also has aninternational dimension. The same open borders,technological advances, transnationalcommunications and commercial transactions thatare the hallmark of today’s global society can alsoallow corruption to take root and flourish. Inter-national cooperation—among governments, theprivate sector and civil society—is thus essentialif we are to defeat this menace.”8

The continuing role of theThe continuing role of theThe continuing role of theThe continuing role of theUnited NationsUnited NationsUnited NationsUnited Nations

Why is the United Nations involved in promotingprofessionalism and enhancing ethics in thepublic service? The Charter of the United Nationsnot only lays down the foundation for the organi-zation but also embodies its underlying values.

This document and the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights identify values that promotehuman rights, peace and security, and socio-economic development of nations and peoples.They identify, in effect, international ethicalstandards for all member states to follow.

The preamble of the Charter shows that theUnited Nations was created, among other reasons,“to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, inthe dignity and worth of the human person, in theequal rights of men and women and of nationslarge and small” and “to promote social progressand better standards of life in larger freedom.”Chapter IX lays out the principles forinternational economic and social cooperation,where the United Nations shall promote higherstandards of living; solutions for economic,social, health and related problems; and universalrespect for the observance of human rights andfundamental freedom for all. To attain thesegoals, member states need to encourage oneanother to work towards promoting a competentand ethical public service in carrying out relatedactivities.

Further, the Universal Declaration of HumanRights, acknowledges in Article 21 that “Every-one has the right to take part in the government ofhis country ...”; “Everyone has the right of equalaccess to public service in his country”; and “Thewill of the people shall be the basis of the author-ity of government.” These acknowledgementsplace moral responsibility upon governments toensure and facilitate the participation of theircitizens in the governance process as well as toprovide fair, impartial, and accessible publicservices. To do so, they must rely on men andwomen who are committed to serve the public butalso be recognized for their work.

Because of these ethical values and standards thatwere fundamental to its creation, and which it hasupheld since its inception, the United Nationscontinues to be involved in helping member statesto strengthen governments and promote publicintegrity. It will continue to be involved throughbringing together different countries to discussproblems, share solutions, and promote coopera-

8 United Nations, Secretary-General’s Message to theEighth International Anti-Corruption Conference,Lima, 7-11 September 1997 (SG/SM/6318).

tion. These actions will hopefully contribute topromoting professionalism and ethics in thepublic service.

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Annex 1

Action against Corruption with theAction against Corruption with theAction against Corruption with theAction against Corruption with theUnited Nations International Code ofUnited Nations International Code ofUnited Nations International Code ofUnited Nations International Code ofConductConductConductConductResolution adopted by the General Assembly (A/RES/51/59)

The General Assembly,

Concerned at the seriousness of problems posedby corruption, which may endanger the stabilityand security of societies, undermine the values ofdemocracy and morality and jeopardize social,economic and political development,

Also concerned about the links between corrup-tion and other forms of crime, in particularorganized crime and economic crime, includingmoney-laundering,

Convinced that, since corruption is a phenomenonthat currently crosses national borders and affectsall societies and economies, international coop-eration to prevent and control it is essential,

Convinced also of the need to provide, uponrequest, technical assistance designed to improvepublic management systems and to enhanceaccountability and transparency,

Recalling the Inter-American Convention againstCorruption,1 adopted by the Organization ofAmerican States at the Specialized Conference forConsideration of the Draft Inter-AmericanConvention against Corruption, held at Caracasfrom 27 to 29 March 1996,

Recalling also its resolutions 45/121 of 14December 1990 and 46/152 of 18 December1991, and Economic and Social Councilresolutions 1992/22 of 30 July 1992, 1993/32 of27 July 1993 and 1994/19 of 25 July 1994,

Recalling in particular its resolution 50/225 of 19April 1996, adopted at its resumed session, onpublic administration and development,

Recalling Economic and Social Councilresolution 1995/14 of 24 July 1995 on actionagainst corruption,

Recalling also the work carried out by otherinternational and regional organizations in thisfield, including the activities of the Council ofEurope, the European Union, the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation and Development and theOrganization of American States,

1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on action against corruption2

submitted to the Commission on CrimePrevention and Criminal Justice at its fifthsession;

2. Adopts the International Code of Conduct forPublic Officials annexed to the presentresolution, and recommends it to MemberStates as a tool to guide their efforts againstcorruption;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to distributethe International Code of Conduct to allStates and to include it in the manual onpractical measures against corruption,3 to berevised and expanded pursuant to Economicand Social Council resolution 1995/14, with aview to offering both those tools to States inthe context of advisory services, training andother technical assistance activities;

4. Also requests the Secretary-General to con-tinue to collect information and legislativeand regulatory texts from States and relevant

1 See E/1996/99.

2 E/CN.15/1996.5.

3 International Review of Criminal Policy, Nos. 41 and42 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.IV.4).


intergovernmental organizations, in thecontext of his continuing study of the problemof corruption;

5. Further requests the Secretary-General, inconsultation with States, relevant intergov-ernmental and non-governmental organiza-tions, as well as in cooperation with the insti-tutes comprising the United Nations CrimePrevention and Criminal Justice Programmenetwork, to elaborate an implementation planand submit it to the Commission on CrimePrevention and Criminal Justice at its sixthsession, in conjunction with his report to besubmitted pursuant to Economic and SocialCouncil resolution 1995/14;

6. Urges States, relevant intergovernmental andnon-governmental organizations, as well asthe institutes comprising the United NationsCrime Prevention and Criminal Justice Pro-gramme network, to extend to the Secretary-General their full support in elaborating theimplementation plan and in implementingparagraph 4 above;

7. Urges Member States carefully to considerthe problems posed by the internationalaspects of corrupt practices, especially asregards international economic activitiescarried out by corporate entities, and to studyappropriate legislative and regulatorymeasures to ensure the transparency andintegrity of financial systems and transactionscarried out by such corporate entities;

8. Requests the Secretary-General to intensifyhis efforts to closely cooperate with otherentities of the United Nations system andother relevant international organizations andto more effectively coordinate activitiesundertaken in this area;

9. Also requests the Secretary-General, subjectto the availability of extrabudgetaryresources, to provide increased advisoryservices and technical assistance to MemberStates, at their request, in particular in theelaboration of national strategies, the elabora-tion or improvement of legislative and

regulatory measures, the establishment orstrengthening of national capacities to preventand control corruption, as well as in trainingand upgrading skills of relevant personnel;

10. Calls upon States, relevant internationalorganizations and financing institutions toextend to the Secretary-General their fullsupport and assistance in the implementationof the present resolution;

11. Requests the Commission on Crime Preven-tion and Criminal Justice to keep the issue ofaction against corruption under regularreview.

82nd plenary meeting

12 December 1996

International Code of ConductInternational Code of ConductInternational Code of ConductInternational Code of Conductfor Public Officialsfor Public Officialsfor Public Officialsfor Public Officials

I. General principles

1. A public office, as defined by national law, isa position of trust, implying a duty to act inthe public interest. Therefore, the ultimateloyalty of public officials shall be to thepublic interests of their country as expressedthrough the democratic institutions ofgovernment.

2. Public officials shall ensure that they performtheir duties and functions efficiently, effec-tively and with integrity, in accordance withlaws or administrative policies. They shall atall times seek to ensure that public resourcesfor which they are responsible are admini-stered in the most effective and efficientmanner.

3. Public officials shall be attentive, fair andimpartial in the performance of their func-tions and, in particular, in their relations withthe public. They shall at no time afford anyundue preferential treatment to any group orindividual or improperly discriminate againstany group or individual, or otherwise abusethe power and authority vested in them.

Annex 1 49

II. Conflict of interest and disqualification

4. Public officials shall not use their officialauthority for the improper advancement oftheir own or their family’s personal or finan-cial interest. They shall not engage in anytransaction, acquire any position or functionor have any financial, commercial or othercomparable interest that is incompatible withtheir office, functions and duties or thedischarge thereof.

5. Public officials, to the extent required by theirposition, shall, in accordance with laws oradministrative policies, declare business,commercial and financial interests or activi-ties undertaken for financial gain that mayraise a possible conflict of interest. In situa-tions of possible or perceived conflict ofinterest between the duties and privateinterests of public officials, they shall complywith the measures established to reduce oreliminate such conflict of interest.

6. Public officials shall at no time improperlyuse public moneys, property, services orinformation that is acquired in the perfor-mance of, or as a result of, their official dutiesfor activities not related to their official work.

7. Public officials shall comply with measuresestablished by law or by administrative poli-cies in order that after leaving their officialpositions they will not take improper advan-tage of their previous office.

III. Disclosure of assets

8. Public officials shall, in accord with theirposition and as permitted or required by lawand administrative policies, comply withrequirements to declare or to disclose per-sonal assets and liabilities, as well as, ifpossible, those of their spouses and/ordependants.

IV. Acceptance of gifts or other favours

9. Public officials shall not solicit or receivedirectly or indirectly any gift or other favourthat may influence the exercise of their func-

tions, the performance of their duties or theirjudgement.

V. Confidential information

10. Matters of a confidential nature in the posses-sion of public officials shall be kept confi-dential unless national legislation, the perfor-mance of duty or the needs of justice strictlyrequire otherwise. Such restrictions shall alsoapply after separation from service.

VI. Political activity

11. The political or other activity of publicofficials outside the scope of their officeshall, in accordance with laws and admini-strative policies, not be such as to impairpublic confidence in the impartial perfor-mance of their functions and duties.

Annex 2

United Nations Declaration againstUnited Nations Declaration againstUnited Nations Declaration againstUnited Nations Declaration againstCorruption and Bribery inCorruption and Bribery inCorruption and Bribery inCorruption and Bribery inInternational CommercialInternational CommercialInternational CommercialInternational CommercialTransactionsTransactionsTransactionsTransactionsResolution adopted by the General Assembly (A/RES/51/191)


Recalling its resolution 3514 (XXX) of 15December 1975, in which it, inter alia, con-demned all corrupt practices, including bribery, ininternational commercial transactions, reaffirmedthe right of any State to adopt legislation and toinvestigate and take appropriate legal action, inaccordance with its national laws and regulations,against such corrupt practices, and called upon allGovernments to cooperate to prevent corruptpractices, including bribery,

Recalling also the further work carried out by theGeneral Assembly and the Economic and SocialCouncil on the issue of illicit payments and onelaborating a code of conduct on transnationalcorporations,1 consideration of which helped callattention to and raise international awareness ofthe adverse consequences of bribery in interna-tional commercial transactions,

Recalling further its resolution 50/106 of 20December 1995, in which it recommended thatthe Economic and Social Council consider thedraft international agreement on illicit paymentsat its substantive session of 1996 and report to theAssembly at its fifty-first session,

Welcoming the steps taken at the national,regional and international levels to fight corrup-tion and bribery, as well as recent developmentsin international forums that have further advancedinternational understanding and cooperationregarding corruption and bribery in internationalcommercial transactions,

Noting the adoption in March 1996, by Statesmembers of the Organization of American States,of the Inter-American Convention against Corrup-tion,2 which includes an article on transnationalbribery,

Noting also significant continuing work relevantto and consistent with the objectives of the pre-sent resolution in other regional and internationalforums, such as the continuing work of the Coun-cil of Europe and the European Union to combatinternational bribery, as well as the commitmentby the States members of the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation and Development3 tocriminalize bribery of foreign public officials ininternational commercial transactions in an effec-tive and coordinated manner and further examinethe modalities and appropriate internationalinstruments to facilitate criminalization, and to re-examine the tax deductibility of such bribes withthe intention of denying such tax deductibility inthe member States that do not already do so,

1. Adopts the United Nations Declarationagainst Corruption and Bribery in Interna-tional Commercial Transactions, the text ofwhich is annexed to the present resolution;

2. Notes the work being undertaken by theUnited Nations and in other international andregional forums to address the problem ofcorruption and bribery in international com-mercial transactions, and invites all States

1 E/1991/31/Add.1.

2 See E/1996/99.

3 See E/1996/106.


concerned to pursue the completion of suchwork;

3. Invites Member States, in accordance with theDeclaration, to take appropriate measures andcooperate at all levels to combat corruptionand bribery in international commercialtransactions;

4. Requests the Economic and Social Counciland its subsidiary bodies, in particular theCommission on Crime Prevention andCriminal Justice:

(a) To examine ways, including throughlegally binding international instruments,without in any way precluding, impedingor delaying international, regional ornational actions, to further the implemen-tation of the present resolution and theannexed Declaration, so as to promote thecriminalization of corruption and briberyin international commercial transactions;

(b) To keep the issue of corruption andbribery in international commercialtransactions under regular review;

(c) To promote the effective implementationof the present resolution;

5. Invites other bodies of the United Nationssystem, including the United Nations Confer-ence on Trade and Development, whosecompetence extends to this matter, to takeaction as appropriate within their mandates topromote the objectives of the present resolu-tion and the Declaration;

6. Encourages private and public corporations,including transnational corporations, and indi-viduals engaged in international commercialtransactions to cooperate in the effectiveimplementation of the Declaration;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to informMember States, the relevant bodies and thespecialized agencies of the United Nationssystem, and international, regional and non-governmental organizations, of the adoptionof the present resolution, to encourage action

towards making its provisions widely knownand to promote its effective implementation;

8. Also requests the Secretary-General toprepare a report, for consideration by theGeneral Assembly at its fifty-third session, onthe progress made towards implementation ofthe present resolution and the steps taken byMember States, international and regionalorganizations and other relevant institutionsto combat corruption and bribery in inter-national commercial transactions; on theresults of the work in this regard undertakenby the Commission on Crime Prevention andCriminal Justice and other bodies of theUnited Nations system; and on measurestaken in accordance with the present resolu-tion to promote social responsibility and theelimination of corruption and bribery ininternational commercial transactions;

9. Invites Member States and competent inter-national, regional and non-governmentalorganizations to provide relevant informationto assist the Secretary-General in preparingthe above-mentioned report;

10. Decides to include in the provisional agendaof its fifty- third session, under an itementitled “Business and development”, areview of the report of the Secretary-Generalconcerning the implementation of the presentresolution.

86th plenary meeting

16 December 1996

United Nations DeclarationUnited Nations DeclarationUnited Nations DeclarationUnited Nations Declarationagainst Corruption and Briberyagainst Corruption and Briberyagainst Corruption and Briberyagainst Corruption and Briberyin International Commercialin International Commercialin International Commercialin International CommercialTransactionsTransactionsTransactionsTransactions


Convinced that a stable and transparent environ-ment for international commercial transactions inall countries is essential for the mobilization ofinvestment, finance, technology, skills and other

Annex 2 53

important resources across national borders, inorder, inter alia, to promote economic and socialdevelopment and environmental protection,

Recognizing the need to promote social respons-ibility and appropriate standards of ethics on thepart of private and public corporations, includingtransnational corporations, and individuals en-gaged in international commercial transactions,inter alia, through observance of the laws andregulations of the countries in which they conductbusiness, and taking into account the impact oftheir activities on economic and social develop-ment and environmental protection,

Recognizing also that effective efforts at all levelsto combat and avoid corruption and bribery in allcountries are essential elements of an improvedinternational business environment, that theyenhance fairness and competitiveness in interna-tional commercial transactions and form a criticalpart of promoting transparent and accountablegovernance, economic and social developmentand environmental protection in all countries, andthat such efforts are especially pressing in theincreasingly competitive globalized internationaleconomy,

Solemnly proclaims the United NationsDeclaration against Corruption and Bribery inInternational Commercial Transactions as set outbelow.

Member States, individually and through interna-tional and regional organizations, taking actionssubject to each State’s own constitution andfundamental legal principles and adoptedpursuant to national laws and procedures, committhemselves:

1. To take effective and concrete action tocombat all forms of corruption, bribery andrelated illicit practices in international com-mercial transactions, in particular to pursueeffective enforcement of existing laws prohi-biting bribery in international commercialtransactions, to encourage the adoption oflaws for those purposes where they do notexist, and to call upon private and publiccorporations, including transnational cor-

porations, and individuals within their juris-diction engaged in international commercialtransactions to promote the objectives of thepresent Declaration;

2. To criminalize such bribery of foreign publicofficials in an effective and coordinatedmanner, but without in any way precluding,impeding or delaying international, regionalor national actions to further the implemen-tation of the present Declaration;

3. Bribery may include, inter alia, the followingelements:

(a) The offer, promise or giving of any pay-ment, gift or other advantage, directly orindirectly, by any private or public cor-poration, including a transnational corpor-ation, or individual from a State to anypublic official or elected representative ofanother country as undue considerationfor performing or refraining from the per-formance of that official’s or representa-tive’s duties in connection with an inter-national commercial transaction;

(b) The soliciting, demanding, accepting orreceiving, directly or indirectly, by anypublic official or elected representative ofa State from any private or public corpor-ation, including a transnational corpora-tion, or individual from another countryof any payment, gift or other advantage,as undue consideration for performing orrefraining from the performance of thatofficial’s or representative’s duties inconnection with an international commer-cial transaction;

4. To deny, in countries that do not already doso, the tax deductibility of bribes paid by anyprivate or public corporation or individual ofa State to any public official or elected repre-sentative of another country and, to that end,to examine their respective modalities fordoing so;

5. To develop or maintain accounting standardsand practices that improve the transparency of


international commercial transactions, andthat encourage private and public corpora-tions, including transnational corporations,and individuals engaged in internationalcommercial transactions to avoid and combatcorruption, bribery and related illicitpractices;

6. To develop or to encourage the development,as appropriate, of business codes, standards orbest practices that prohibit corruption, briberyand related illicit practices in internationalcommercial transactions;

7. To examine establishing illicit enrichment bypublic officials or elected representatives asan offence;

8. To cooperate and afford one another thegreatest possible assistance in connectionwith criminal investigations and other legalproceedings brought in respect of corruptionand bribery in international commercialtransactions. Mutual assistance shall include,as far as permitted under national laws or asprovided for in bilateral treaties or otherapplicable arrangements of the affectedcountries, and taking into account the needfor confidentiality as appropriate:

(a) Production of documents and other infor-mation, taking of evidence and service ofdocuments relevant to criminal investi-gations and other legal proceedings;

(b) Notice of the initiation and outcome ofcriminal proceedings concerning briberyin international commercial transactions

to other States that may have jurisdictionover the same offence;

(c) Extradition proceedings where and asappropriate;

9. To take appropriate action to enhance coop-eration to facilitate access to documents andrecords about transactions and about iden-tities of persons engaged in bribery ininternational commercial transactions;

10. To ensure that bank secrecy provisions do notimpede or hinder criminal investigations orother legal proceedings relating to corruption,bribery or related illicit practices in interna-tional commercial transactions, and that fullcooperation is extended to Governments thatseek information on such transactions;

11. Actions taken in furtherance of the presentDeclaration shall respect fully the nationalsovereignty and territorial jurisdiction ofMember States, as well as the rights andobligations of Member States under existingtreaties and international law, and shall beconsistent with human rights and fundamentalfreedoms;

12. Member States agree that actions taken bythem to establish jurisdiction over acts ofbribery of foreign public officials ininternational commercial transactions shall beconsistent with the principles of internationallaw regarding the extraterritorial applicationof a State’s laws.

Annex 3

International Cooperation againstInternational Cooperation againstInternational Cooperation againstInternational Cooperation againstCorruption and Bribery inCorruption and Bribery inCorruption and Bribery inCorruption and Bribery inInternational CommercialInternational CommercialInternational CommercialInternational CommercialTransactions Transactions Transactions Transactions Resolution adopted by the General Assembly (A/RES/52/87)


Disturbed by the bribery of public officials byindividuals and enterprises of other States in relationto international commercial transactions,

Convinced that such practices undermine theintegrity of state bureaucracies and weaken socialand economic policies by promoting corruption inthe public sector, thus diminishing its credibility,

Convinced also that the fight against corruptionmust be supported by sincere internationalcooperation efforts,

Recalling its resolution 3514 (XXX) of 15December 1975, in which it, inter alia, condemnedall corrupt practices, including bribery, by trans-national corporations and other corporations, theirintermediaries and others involved, in violation ofthe laws and regulations in host countries,reaffirmed the right of any State to adopt legislationand to investigate and take appropriate legal action,in accordance with its national laws and regulations,against such corrupt practices and called upon allGovernments to cooperate to prevent corruptpractices, including bribery,

Recalling also Economic and Social Councilresolution 1995/14 of 24 July 1995 on action againstcorruption,

Recalling further its resolution 50/225 of 19 April1996 on public administration and development,

Recalling in particular its resolution 51/59 of 12December 1996, in which it adopted the Inter-national Code of Conduct for Public Officials,annexed thereto, and recommended it to MemberStates as a tool to guide their efforts against

corruption,

Recalling that by its resolution 51/191 of 16December 1996 it adopted the United NationsDeclaration against Corruption and Bribery inInternational Commercial Transactions,

Recalling also that in its resolution 51/191 itrequested the Economic and Social Council and itssubsidiary bodies, in particular the Commission onCrime Prevention and Criminal Justice, to examineways to further the implementation of that resolutionand the United Nations Declaration againstCorruption and Bribery in International CommercialTransactions, to keep the issue of corruption andbribery in international commercial transactionsunder regular review and to promote the effectiveimplementation of that resolution,

Taking note of the report of the Secretary-Generalon action against corruption and bribery1 and of thereport of the Expert Group Meeting on Corruption,held at Buenos Aires from 17 to 21 March 1997,2

Welcoming developments that have advancedinternational understanding and cooperationregarding bribery in transnational business, such asthe Inter-American Convention against Corruptionadopted by the Organization of American States on29 March 1996,3 which includes an article on theprohibition of foreign commercial bribery; theongoing work of the Council of Europe againstcorruption, including the elaboration of several

1 E/CN.15/1997/3.

2 E/CN/15/1997/3/Add.1, annex.

3 See E/1996/99.


international conventions containing provisions onbribery in international commercial transactions; theongoing work of the World Trade Organization toimprove transparency, openness and due process ingovernment procurement procedures; and theongoing work of the States members of theOrganisation for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment, including, as elements, the agreementto prohibit the tax deductibility of bribes paid toforeign public officials in international commercialtransactions, and the commitment to criminalize thebribing of foreign public officials in internationalbusiness transactions,

1. Agrees that all States should take all possiblemeasures to further the implementation of theUnited Nations Declaration against Corruptionand Bribery in International CommercialTransactions4 and of the International Code ofConduct for Public Officials;5

2. Urges Member States that have not yet done soto implement relevant international declarationsand to ratify, where appropriate, internationalinstruments against corruption;

3. Also urges Member States to criminalize, in aneffective and coordinated manner, the bribery ofpublic office holders of other States ininternational commercial transactions, andencourages them to engage, as appropriate, inprogrammatic activities to deter, prevent andcombat bribery and corruption, for example, bydiminishing institutional barriers through thedevelopment of integrated management systemsand the promotion of legal reform, inaccordance with their fundamental legalprinciples in both the public and private sectors,by encouraging a greater role for citizens in thedevelopment of transparent and accountablegovernment, by supporting the active partici-pation of non-governmental organizations in theidentification, planning and implementation ofinitiatives that raise ethical standards and

practices in both government and businesstransactions and by providing training andtechnical assistance to other States, asappropriate, and to develop and implementstandards of good governance, in particular,accountability and transparency, legitimatecommercial and financial conduct and otheranti-corruption measures;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to invite eachMember State to provide a report on steps takento implement the provisions of the Declaration,including those dealing with criminalization,effective sanctions, tax deductibility, accountingstandards and practices, development ofbusiness codes, illicit enrichment, mutual legalassistance and bank secrecy provisions, as wellas on national anti-corruption strategies andpolicies, for compilation by the Secretary-General and consideration by the Commissionon Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, witha view to examining further steps to be taken forthe full implementation of the Declaration;

5. Invites competent international, regional andnon-governmental organizations to provide rele-vant information to the Commission on CrimePrevention and Criminal Justice on internationalefforts to combat corruption and bribery;

6. Requests the Secretary-General, subject to theavailability of extrabudgetary funds, to intensifytechnical assistance to combat corruption,providing advisory services to Member Statesthat request such services, and urges MemberStates to provide the Secretariat with thenecessary extrabudgetary funds for suchtechnical assistance;

7. Requests the Commission on Crime Preventionand Criminal Justice to give attention to thequestion of the bribery of public office holdersof other States in international commercialtransactions and to include in its agenda for afuture session a review of action taken by Statesto implement the Declaration.


12 December 19974 Resolution 51/191, annex.

5 Resolution 51/59, annex.

Annex 3 57

Annex 4

Public Administration andPublic Administration andPublic Administration andPublic Administration andDevelopmentDevelopmentDevelopmentDevelopmentResolution adopted by the General Assembly (A/RES/50/225)


Recalling the Tangier Declaration,1 adopted by thePan-African Conference of Ministers of the CivilService held in Morocco on 20 and 21 June 1994,

Recalling also its resolution 49/136 of19 December 1994 on public administration anddevelopment,

Recalling further Economic and Social Councildecision 1996/215 of 2 April 1996,

Bearing in mind the rapid pace and interdependenceof global, political, social and economicdevelopments, and their implications for allcountries, particularly the developing countries, andthat there is a critical need for improved efficiencyand effective public institutions, administrativeprocedures and sound financial management toharness these challenges in support of sustainabledevelopment in all countries,

Affirming that States have the sovereign right andresponsibility to decide, in accordance with theirown development policy, strategies, needs andpriorities, on their public administrationmanagement based on the rule of law,

Acknowledging the diversity of experiences inpublic administrative systems as well as thepolitical, social and economic circumstances of eachcountry,

Recognizing that effectiveness of governmentrequires an efficient and effective public admini-stration in all countries that is responsive to theneeds of the people, promotes social justice, ensuresuniversal access to quality services and productiveassets and creates an enabling environment forsustainable people-centred development,

Reaffirming the importance of enhancing the qualityof public administration based, inter alia, on theparticipatory approach to development,

Recognizing the role of the United Nations inassisting Governments, at their request, in ensuringthe maintenance of essential basic governmentservices and functions during times of crisis and indeveloping strategies for rebuilding a viable publicadministration in countries undergoing post-conflictrehabilitation and reconstruction,

Taking note of the fact that the United Nationssystem, responding to requests from interestedMember States, has contributed in support of theirpublic administration to include wider aspects ofgovernance, including democratic, legal andjudiciary reform, and strengthening of the civilsociety,

Recognizing that Governments in all countriesshould make their procedures transparent in order toavoid and combat all acts of corruption,

Emphasizing the benefits to all countries ofexchanging experiences and views in order topromote better understanding and applications ofvarious roles and functions of government andpublic administration, and enhancing internationalcooperation in this field, including such exchangeswithin the context of South-South and interregionalcooperation,

Recognizing the important role of the public sectorin the development process and stressing the need toimprove development and management of its humanresources through, inter alia, appropriate nationalincentive measures,

1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on public administration and

1 See A/49/495, annex.

Annex 4 59

development2 and of the proposals containedtherein;

2. Takes note also of the report of the Group ofExperts in Public Administration and Finance;3

3. Takes further note of the reports of the regionalmeetings on public administration anddevelopment;4

4. Recognizes that there exist challenges andtrends variously facing national Governments inthe field of public administration;

5. Reaffirms that democracy and transparent andaccountable governance and administration inall sectors of society are indispensablefoundations for the realization of social andpeople-centred sustainable development;

6. Underlines the importance of transparent andaccountable governance and administration inall public and private national and internationalinstitutions;

7. Recognizes that there is a need for publicadministration systems to be sound, efficientand well equipped with the appropriatecapacities and capabilities through, inter alia,capacity-building, promotion of transfer, accessand utilization of technology, establishment orimprovement of training programmes for publicservice, strengthening of partnership of thepublic sector with the private sector and civilsociety, as well as providing an enablingenvironment for private sector activities, asappropriate, promotion of the role andinvolvement of women in public administration,development of cross-sectoral gender-sensitiveand multidisciplinary capabilities, whichsupports all phases of the development processas well as the promotion of opportunities for allto participate in all spheres of the public sector;

8. Reaffirms that Governments in all countriesshould promote and protect all human rights andfundamental freedoms, including the right todevelopment, bearing in mind theinterdependent and mutually reinforcingrelationship between democracy, developmentand respect for human rights, and should makepublic institutions more responsive to people’sneeds;

9. Invites Governments to strengthen their publicadministrative and financial managementcapacities through public-sector administrativeand management reform, with emphasis onenhanced efficiency and productivity,accountability and responsiveness of the publicinstitutions, and encourages, where appropriate,decentralization of public institutions andservices;

10. Recognizes the importance of the major UnitedNations conferences and urges the developmentof the necessary capabilities to enable publicadministration to implement the commitmentsagreed upon in an effective and coordinatedmanner;

11. Confirms the importance of and calls forenhancement of the effectiveness of UnitedNations activities in the area of public admini-stration and development;

12. Stresses the importance of an increased synergy,cooperation and coordination between UnitedNations funds and programmes, the specializedagencies, the United Nations Secretariat and theBretton Woods institutions to ensure that thesubstantive and technical capacity of the UnitedNations system is optimized;

13. Acknowledges that the role of United Nationsactivities and programmes in publicadministration and development is to assistGovernments, at their request, to improve theirresponsiveness to meet the basic needs of all, aswell as to achieve sustainable development in allcountries; the United Nations should focus itsactivities in the following areas asrecommended by the Group of Experts in PublicAdministration and Finance in its report:

2 A/50/847-E/1996/7.

3 A/50/525-E/1995/122.

4 A/50/904, A/50/917, A/50/919, A/50/920, A/50/921and A/50/929.


(a) Strengthening government capacity forpolicy development, administrativerestructuring, civil service reform, humanresources development and publicadministration training;

(b) Improving performance in the public sector;

(c) Financial management;

(d) Public-private interaction;

(e) Social development;

(f) Developing infrastructure and protecting theenvironment;

(g) Government legal capacity;

(h) Post-conflict rehabilitation andreconstruction of government machinery;

(i) Management of development programmes.

In this context, the United Nations should carry outthese activities through pooling and facilitatingaccess to information in public administration,promoting training and research in publicadministration and finance at all levels, advocacyand exchange of experiences, advisory services,technical assistance, capacity-building and humanresources development.

14. Requests the United Nations to developstrategies, at the request of interested countries,for rebuilding a viable public administration incountries undergoing post-conflict rehabilitationand reconstruction;

15. Invites the Bretton Woods institutions and allrelevant United Nations agencies and bodies toassist, at their request, Member States involvedin economic restructuring programmes to pursuenational policies aimed at improving the

development and management of their humanresources through, inter alia, appropriatemeasures;

16. Recognizes the increased national efforts ofMember States in providing adequate financialand other resources for the strengthening oftheir public administration;

17. Invites the international community to create anenabling international environment and toconsider providing adequate financial and otherresources for programmes of assistance tosupport national efforts in enhancing theeffectiveness of public administration indeveloping countries and countries witheconomies in transition;

18. Recommends that the Secretary-General takeappropriate measures in order to ensuremaximum coordination of activities of theUnited Nations system in the field of publicadministration and development;

19. Calls upon the Secretary-General to ensure waysof strengthening the coordination, coherenceand harmonization of the management andimplementation of the operational activities ofthe United Nations system in the field of publicadministration and development;

20. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to theGeneral Assembly at its fifty-third session,through the Economic and Social Council, areport on public administration anddevelopment containing information on theimplementation of the present resolution.


19 April 1996

Annex 5

The Rabat DeclarationThe Rabat DeclarationThe Rabat DeclarationThe Rabat Declaration

We the African Ministers of Civil Service,meeting at the invitation of the Kingdom ofMorocco for the Second Pan-African Conference ofMinisters of Civil Service, held in Rabat, Moroccofrom 13 - 15 December 1998, jointly organised bythe African Training and Research Centre inAdministration for Development (CAFRAD) and theUnited Nations Department of Economic and SocialAffairs (UN DESA), agree on the following:

Having discussed The Public Service in Africa:New Challenges, Professionalism and Ethicsthrough a range of issues on the effective, efficientand ethical workings of a professional civil serviceand human resources development within theAfrican context;

Aware of the promising perspectives brought aboutby the previous conference held in Tangier, andwhich have created a better awareness on the part ofthe international community to the specificadministrative constraints in the development ofAfrican countries;

Having taken note with satisfaction of the commit-ments and the efforts made as well as the initiativestaken by the different countries to implement theTangier Declaration and Resolution 50/225 of theUnited Nations General Assembly and having alsotaken note of the recommendations of the 36thGoverning Board of CAFRAD held on July 1997;

Recognizing that given the political and economicchanges of recent years, new responsibilities havebeen placed on the public administration of Africancountries, including:

• Adapting to the growing globalisation of theeconomy and establishing an environmentfavouring the growth of the private sector;

• Ensuring not only the economic growth and thestrengthening of basic infrastructures but alsosocial development and the narrowing ofincreasing disparities of income andopportunities in favour of social solidarity;

• Modernising the administrative structuresthrough grasping new information andcommunication technologies while making thecivil service close to the citizen and providingquality services.

Considering that to meet the multiple challenges increating conditions for sustainable economic andsocial development on the eve of the 21st century,governments must be backed by a responsible,effective, efficient and responsive publicadministration;

Attaching special importance to the need ofinvesting in human resources, in developing themand efficiently using them as a basis for theconsolidation of democracy, for the achievement ofsocial progress and the reform of publicadministration;

Believing that:

• Effects of structural adjustment programmeshave sometimes weakened the capacity of thepublic sector to perform its missions effectively;

• Promoting conditions which enable the civilservice to attract, to motivate and to retainhighly qualified individuals of great integrityand merit will create an administration that isservice-oriented, complementing and drawingsynergy from both the private sector and civilsociety,

• A well-performing and transparent public ser-vice is an essential prerequisite for private sectorgrowth and Africa’s economic recovery;

Considering that:

• The promotion of professionalism, theenhancement of ethical standards and integritysystems including the fight against corruption inthe public administration of African countries isa key issue for the development of the region;

• The experience gained in this field in some


countries deserves to be widely known andshared;

• A comprehensive African approach to cope withthe new challenges and to enhance the role,professionalism, ethics and image of the publicservice should be defined as part of a concertedeffort to revitalise public administration foreconomic and social development;

Reiterate our commitment for holding meetings ofthe Biennial Pan-african Conference of Ministers ofCivil Service on a regular basis, since it provides aforum for dialogue and a step in the direction ofattaining our common objectives;

We now draw the attention of the internationalcommunity to the current difficulties faced by andthe needs of African States, with a view toincreasing assistance for the development andmodernisation of their public administration;

Based on the above, we recommend the followingactions:

• Each country makes the commitment and takesthe necessary measures to regenerateprofessionalism and promote ethics in its publicadministration by:

• Creating managerial structures andmechanisms;

• Reforming civil service codes to introduceprinciples of neutrality, transparency,flexibility and stressing ethics and integrity;

• Implementing a system of recruitment,career development and remunerationbased on merit;

• Improving and modernising methodologiesand programmes for training civil servants.

• The Chairperson of the Conference sets upjointly with the Conference Participants, aworking group with the backing of CAFRADand in close collaboration with the UnitedNations Department of Economic and SocialAffairs to perform the following tasks:

• To elaborate a Charter for thePublic Service in Africa to affirm

the values of the public serviceprofession, restate its goals andmissions in the light of thechanging conditions and needs ofthe countries in the region, andoutline the basic conditions forenhancing its role, professionalism,ethics and image, including theelaboration of Code of conduct forAfrican public servants;

• To develop strategies and methodologieswhich can assist the Governments of theAfrican region to achieve such objectivesand to meet these basic conditions;

• CAFRAD undertakes the following actions:

• To carry out periodic studies on publicpolicies and programmes and to strengthenthe capacity of public organisations;

• To organise a Conference of AfricanDirectors of public service in order toexchange ideas and views on Profes-sionalism and Ethics in African PublicService;

• To prepare a comprehensive report for thenext Conference to be presented at the 5thanniversary of Resolution 50/225 of theUnited Nations General Assembly in 2001;

• To organise regular sub-regional meetingsto examine the issues of human resourcesmanagement, including recruitment, in thepublic service;

• To support in the update and strengtheningof the training programmes of Schools andInstitutes of Public administration in thecontext of African Public Administrationneeds regarding in particular ethics andprofessionalism, and to make proposals forappropriate reforms;

• To promote and sustain, in collaborationwith other regional and internationalorganisations, and with the help of websites,press releases, and other means a virtualcommunity and network of public

Annex 5 63

administration practitioners and scholars forthe debate and exploration of relevantissues; and

• Within the framework on ongoing UnitedNations initiatives for financing development,special attention should be given to mobilisingthe necessary financial resources to strengthenAfrican public administration. In this respect,the Conference follows with interest the stepsbeing taken for the holding of the InternationalConference planned on this theme.

• UN DESA undertakes consultation and buildsupport for the proclamation of a UnitedNations Day for Public Service andDevelopment, to be observed annually;

We call on international financial institutions andother donor partners to allocate in their developmentassistance policy, additional resources in order tofacilitate the reforms of the public administration tomeet these new challenges.

We request:

• The Secretary-General of the United Nations toprovide the necessary expertise and resources to

Governments, upon their request, in order toimprove professionalism, to strengthen integrityand to combat corruption;

• The Secretary-General of the United Nations tofacilitate the exchange of experiences betweenregions on issues linked to the themes of thisConference, in particular within the frameworkof the Meeting of the Group of Experts on theProgramme of the United Nations in PublicAdministration and Finance;

• The Secretary-General of the United Nations toensure that professionalism and ethics beconsidered as priority themes in the activitiesrelated to public administration within theUnited Nations System;

• The Chairperson of this Conference to under-take the task of raising the awareness of theinternational community to the importance ofthe themes discussed in this Conference, and toreport at the next Pan-African Conference ofMinisters of Civil Service on steps taken for theimplementation of this Declaration.

Rabat, 15 December 1998

professionalism and ethics in the public service · naomi caiden, ms. kathryn denhardt, mr....

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