April 2015

In the Arab states region, UNDPs’ regional anti-corruption and integrity project (ACIAC) continues to support different countries in their efforts to establish effective protection for whistleblowers against corruption, in collaboration with the Arab Anti-Corruption and Integrity Network (ACINET). In March 2015, UNDP-ACIAC supported related activities in Lebanon and Tunisia to raise awareness on new bills that are being proposed in this regard and to enable an inclusive discussion on how to advance them.

The activity in Tunisia was held on 11 March in cooperation with OECD, the Government of Tunisia and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (INLUCC). It was attended by more than 40 participants including key stakeholders from the government, parliament and civil society. It enabled them to develop a deeper understanding of the whistleblower protection bill and related international standards and comparative experiences. They were also able to formulate specific recommendations to enrich the bill and promote its adoption and effective implementation.

The other activity was held in Lebanon on 26 March in cooperation with the “Lebanese Parliamentarians against Corruption” and the “Lebanese Transparency Association” (LTA). Participants included parliamentarians and key national stakeholders. It provided them with a comprehensive update on national anti-corruption legislative efforts, with a focus on the whistleblower protection bill, while enabling them to revise and fine-tune the “citizen guide”. The guide was developed by LTA to raise public awareness and engage citizens in whistleblowing against corruption in Lebanon.

Across the region, there are many similar efforts despite the various legal and societal obstacles that face them. Such efforts seek to comply with the requirements of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and also benefit from ACINET’s Regional Conclusions in 2009. To date, three countries have taken regulatory actions in this regard. Iraq issued an order in 2004 to protect and provide appropriate incentives to whistleblowers and is currently preparing a more comprehensive bill. In 2011, Morocco introduced amendments to the penal code to protect whistleblowers in cases related to bribery, embezzlement, and other corruption crimes. In 2014 Jordan adopted a regulation specifically dedicated to the protection of whistleblower, witnesses, informants and experts in all corruption cases.

In addition to those three countries, Saudi Arabia is currently preparing a specialized whistleblower protection bill, and has also dedicated part of the website of the National Anti-Corruption Commission to receive corruption complaints. Morocco, on the other hand has established a specific website solely dedicated to this purpose, but reserved so far for reports on corruption related complaints and furnish legal advice to small and medium enterprises (SME’s) www.stopcorruption.ma .

In parallel to these governmental efforts, civil society is playing a more active role on whistleblower protection advocating the adoption of related laws and providing various types of facilities to receive documents and follow on whistleblower protection. Active initiatives in this context are carried out by the AMAN Coalition in Palestine, Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA), Kuwait Transparency Society (KTS), and Transparency Maroc, all through the concept of ALACs(Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres), promoted by Transparency International which provides free and confidential legal advice to witnesses and victims of corruption.

By Chloe Younes, Communication Intern, UNDP Lebanon

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Ukraine has been attempting to radically reform its governance systems in the midst of an uneasy transition. Efforts include purging civil service ranks of corrupt officials and schemes, introducing more transparency, and launching corruption prevention mechanisms. Government at all levels has received technical assistance and expertise in multiple areas. It has been surged with reform priorities that it needs to address immediately.

Working in close partnership with government and the new Reanimation Package of Reforms (RPR) CSO initiative (a cluster of over 40 most active reform-minded civil society organizations), UNDP in Ukraine helped to advance corruption prevention and promote transparency. Three systemic areas merit mention: Setting up the rules of the game, creating tools for implementing the adopted policies, and empowering the actors to take up the new instruments.

In close partnership with the Ministry of Justice, the Parliamentary Committee for Combating Corruption, and the thematic RPR civic expert group, UNDP helped craft new laws “On Prevention of Corruption” and “On the State Anti-corruption Strategy for 2014-2017”. Expert support and engaged discussions hosted by the Ministry and the Parliamentary committee in partnership with UNDP and other development partners have shaped new legislative frameworks in a truly participatory manner. On-demand assistance to civic advocacy efforts has, in its turn, made possible the adoption of these drafts by MPs in October 2014. At present UNDP is assisting the government in getting the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption, envisaged by the legislation, up and running before the end of spring this year.

UNDP Ukraine has responded to the growing demand for more transparency and digital openness of governance by championing open data. UNDP experts worked alongside civic experts in designing an open data framework (some of the civic experts were part of the team that built the prototype of Ukraine’s open data portal, www.data.gov.ua). Among the outcomes is draft legislation intended to amend existing “Access to Information” regulations. These would make open data a legal term in Ukraine and mandate publication of datasets. The UNDP-supported draft law also became one of the signature products of the RPR E-Governance group, taken up by the Administration of the President as part of a “Digital Ukraine” legislative package, introduced to Parliament, and finally passed as a law on 10 April 2015

Corruption prevention work in Ukraine needs a detailed and structured roadmap for taking action and measuring progress. This is why an important component UNDP Ukraine’s work is helping the government develop the National Anticorruption Programme. Adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers in early April, the action plan makes the National Anticorruption Strategy operational by translating overarching goals, principles and values into concrete time-bound initiatives that the government will undertake in the next three years.

UNDP continued its previously launched pilot on making municipality budgets clearer and more user-friendly for citizens and local journalists. The tool that “interprets” long rows of accounting codes and cumbersome tables into an interactive and easy-to understand format was finalized in early 2015 (see http://bit.ly/1H2ybNv for an example of a multi-year expenditure comparison). The presentation of the web-instrument to over 30 head city accountants from all over Ukraine has generated much interest.

Finally, fulfilling its mission of building capacities of local actors to effectively counteract corruption at the sub-national level, UNDP has worked hand in hand with six CSOs that are recognized as the backbone of anti-corruption reform in Ukraine. To transfer the skills, knowledge, and practical experience of these CSOs to the regional level, UNDP organized an Anticorruption School in March 2015. Some 30 activists, journalists, and aspiring anticorruption practitioners from 15 regions of the country attended the school. UNDP continues to link the School participants with national organizations (including through daily Facebook communications) and is helping to build linkages between the regional and national levels of anti-corruption work.

It may well be said that the changes in Ukraine’s integrity, openness and corruption prevention landscape are too slow and that the public is waiting for tangible change already here and now. The process of hammering out more perfect arrangements between civil society and the state in a democratic, deliberative manner has been slow, yet, already showing some of its first fruit. With steady movement ahead we hope for more and more progress to report and, in a while be able to live up to the statement that water indeed is able to carve stone at its slow but steady pace.

By Maksym Klyuchar, Governance Expert, Democratization and Human Rights in Ukraine Project, UNDP Ukraine Country Office

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By Phil Matsheza, Regional Team Leader, Governance and Peacebuilding Asia-Pacific, United Nations Development Programme

Promoting integrity and combating corruption in the justice sector is essential for strengthening rule of law, maintaining the independence of the judiciary, and ensuring fairness in and equal access to the justice process.

Several assessments and forums, including the Asia-Pacific Judicial Review Forum in 2013, have identified the importance of addressing corruption in the entire criminal justice chain, but also highlighted the need for more research on patterns of corruption and on experiences and best practices in promoting integrity and addressing corruption.

This was also an outcome from a 2013 e-discussion on “Assessing Challenges and Results of Capacity Development Interventions”, jointly conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), U4 Anti-corruption Centre at Chr. Michelsen Institute (http://www.u4.no/), and the Asia-Pacific Integrity in Action online network (ap-intact@groups.undp.org).

To document experiences and best practice, UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub is launching a call for expressions of interest to UNDP country offices, partner governments, practitioners in the criminal justice sector, academia, and civil society organizations, to share information on initiatives that have substantively contributed to promoting integrity and mitigating corruption in the criminal justice chain.

These could include vetting processes in the selection of judges, monitoring of court sessions by civil society, corruption risk assessments, or automation of court procedures that helped mitigate corruption risks.

Selected case studies — based on relevance, results achieved, and lessons learned — will be presented at an experts meeting to be held in Malaysia during the first week of September 2015.

The case studies will help UNDP to identify gaps and entry points, and shape the work of UNDP in the justice sector (including developing tools and methodologies for risk assessments) in the Asia-Pacific region, and also globally. Attached is a draft concept note on developing methodologies for corruption risk assessment in the criminal justice chain.

Those who wish to contribute information are requested to use the attached template. Please return the completed template to Ms. Liviana Zorzi Liviana.zorzi@undp.org at UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub by 4 May 2015.

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14 April 2015 – Pulling up the weeds of corruption would allow human rights and freedoms to blossom and, in turn, develop into steady economic growth, delegates heard today as the thirteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice concluded its high-level segment and held a plenary debate on successes and challenges in implementing policies and strategies to promote the rule of law along with sustainable development.

Since the Congress opened on 12 April, almost 100 ministers, Government officials and representatives of civil society and international and regional organizations weighed in.  Today, speakers elaborated on ways to combat a cascade of criminal activities that were threatening the social and economic well-being of communities around the world.  Many of those obstacles to the success of the broader global development agenda stemmed from corruption, some said.

“All the universal goals run the risk of being severely undermined by corruption,” said Martin Kreutner, Dean and Executive Secretary of the International Anti-Corruption Academy.  “Corruption is the antithesis vis-à-vis human rights, the venom vis-à-vis the rule of law, the poison for prosperity and development and the reverse of equity and equality.”

Addressing deficiencies in anti-corruption and compliance regimes was rooted in the aims of the Academy, which had already empowered professionals from some 125 countries.  A cornerstone of its work was aimed at advancing the goals of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the first global legally binding international anti-corruption instrument, which entered into force in 2005 and provided guidance on prevention, asset recovery and a host of related issues.

Indeed, some States had used the Convention against Corruption as a guide.  A representative of the Specialized Meeting of Prosecutors of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) pointed to Brazil’s adoption of new anti-corruption legislation, which was in line with one of the Convention’s principles.  For his group, combatting all forms of corruption was very topical, he said, adding that anti-corruption would be the focus of a meeting of MERCOSUR’s attorney generals in June.  Some speakers highlighted other forthcoming gatherings, with the Deputy Minister of the Interior of the Russian Federation announcing that St. Petersburg would host in November the Convention’s sixth session of States Parties.

Rooting out corruption required a global effort based on effective international cooperation, said Australia’s representative, whose Government served as the president of the “Group of 20”, or G20, in 2014.  That year, the Group had endorsed a new anti-corruption action plan containing a set of action-oriented deliverables and had adopted the G20 High-Level Principles on Beneficial Ownership Transparency, committing countries to ensuring the transparency of legal entities in order to prevent illicit activities such as terrorism or money-laundering.

During the morning segment, speakers raised a number of issues, among them the question of the death penalty, with some calling for its abolition.  Norway’s representative said his country was strongly opposed to the death penalty and had limitations in its national law as to how far the country could cooperate in the area of justice with countries practicing capital punishment.  “This irreversible form of punishment is both cruel and inhuman, and violates the right to life,” he said, adding that there was no convincing evidence supporting the claim that executions deterred or prevented crime.  Instead, research had overwhelmingly demonstrated that there was no scientific ground for claiming that the death penalty had a greater deterrent effect than long prison sentences.

Also delivering statements during the high-level segment were representatives of Portugal, Egypt, Germany, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Indonesia, Namibia, Venezuela and Libya, as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Alliance of Non-Governmental Organizations on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.  The representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia also spoke, exercising the right of reply.

In the afternoon, the Congress convened a debate on agenda item 3 on “Successes and challenges in implementing comprehensive crime prevention and criminal justice policies and strategies to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels, and to support sustainable development”.

The Congress will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 15 April to continue its plenary debate.

For more information, click here. 

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