News from the Field: The AMAN Coalition launches the National Anti-Corruption Campaign in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

The Palestinian society exists in a context of occupation, settlement, economic dependency and political instability. Despite many challenges, civil life in the Palestinian Territory is characterized by a wide degree of free speech and democracy.

The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN), composed of six Palestinian civil society organizations seeks to contribute to good governance through fostering and enhancing accountability in the political system as well as in all sectors of Palestinian society.

With the support of UNDEF and with the cooperation of UNDP, the AMAN Coalition has launched a national campaign to advocate the efficient implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
This 24 month project aims at promoting implementation of the UN instrument to eradicate corruptive practices from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The expected outcome of the project will be the participatory development of a National Plan of Action to Combat Corruption. Within this framework, AMAN has been developing a wide and civil society-led initiative that focuses on:

(1) supporting research and draft legislation;

(2) institutionalizing monitoring mechanisms;

(3) raising public awareness of the role of the public opinion; and

(4) advocating for effective implementation and enforcement of anti-corruption measures.

The National Anti-Corruption Campaign was launched by a Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the AMAN Coalition and the Palestinian National Authority on 28 August in Ramallah City.

At this occasion, the Prime Minister, Mr. Salam Fayyad declared his commitment to carry out a series of coordinated activities to effectively implement the provisions of the UNCAC. In addition, he declared willingness to endorse a national plan of action to combat corruption and to adopt anti-corruption measures.

The AMAN Coalition, on its part, declared its readiness to support ministries and institutions of the Palestinian Authority in spreading transparency and integrity within their work. The AMAN Coalition with the support of the government will also promote the participation of civil society organizations in combating corruption and their role in raising awareness on anti corruption issues.

To facilitate the work of the AMAN Coalition, the Government will ensure that Palestinian ministries provide all the necessary and required information and facilitate access to public documents.

Simultaneously, on behalf of the AMAN Coalition, Messer’s Nasser Al Rayyes and Ali Abu Diak have been conducting research to identify distances between, on one hand, domestic legal provisions, institutional policies and practices and on the other hand, anti-corruption measures provided by the UNCAC. The research will provide a comparative analysis that will serve as the basis for recommendations increasing the implementation of UNCAC.

In order to highlight and to bring to public awareness some corruptive practices in public policies, Dr. Ayman Yousef is drafting a report regarding the impact of corruption on marginalized groups and Mr. Khalil Rifai investigates the topic of transparency, accountability and integrity within the security forces.

The AMAN Coalition has launched a series of activities aimed at raising awareness on effective implementation of UNCAC provisions.
From September 5th to 23rd, five training and awareness raising workshops have been organized targeting civil society organizations from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These workshops took place in Ramallah City, Bethlehem City, Gaza and Nablus.

Participants included representatives from about one-hundred organizations, NGOs and corporations such as local chambers of commerce, centers for private sector development, centers for women and family affairs, the Intellectuals Forum of Nablus, lawyers unions, the “Muassasat” secretariat for support to human rights and good governance in Ramallah, treatment and rehabilitation centers for victims of torture and numerous other charity organizations.

The agenda of these workshops was twofold:

1) to present stakes and challenges of UNCAC and provide extensive information of the international instrument regarding: preventive measures, criminalization and law enforcement, promoting and strengthening international cooperation, preventing and combating transfers of funds derived from acts of corruption, including laundering of funds and returning such funds, technical assistance, and mechanisms for monitoring implementation.

2) to create opportunities for civil society to address challenges in supporting the fight against corruptive practices such as encouraging access to information, developing protection of whistleblowers, preventing money laundering and corruption in the private sector, fighting bribery, encouraging community participation and raising awareness.

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