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In addressing the Third World Conference of Global
Parliamentarians against Corruption in Kuwait, Dr. Azmi
Shuaibi, AMAN Commissioner for Combating Corruption, clarifies
the reason behind the absence of members of the Palestinian Legislative
Council (PLC) in the conference; “it is the Israeli siege which
prevented your colleagues, from attending this conference”. Dr. Shuaibi
was one of the Palestinian delegation attending the conference. Mahmoud
Al-Aloul, PLC member, and Ghada Zughayar, Executive Director of AMAN
coalition also attended. Six PLC members from the West Bank and Gaza
Strip were invited to participate. Unfortunately, the imposed Israeli
siege and denial of an entry visas to Kuwait prevented them from
participating in the Conference.
More
than 200 parliamentarians and representatives of the different branches
of Transparency International, civil society organizations (CSO), and
other international organizations attended the conference which was held
in Kuwait on November 17-20, 2008. All invitees were involved actively
in the conference program. However, the effective broad participation
of the Arab Network for Arab Parliamentarians against Corruption was
noted as it seized the opportunity to hold an extensive side meeting to
discuss mechanisms of enhancing the role of Arab parliamentarians in
adopting and implementing the United Nations Convention against
Corruption (UNCAC) in their countries. They also discussed CSO role in
raising awareness of the UNCAC among all the parties concerned.
The network representatives from all Arab
countries reviewed achievements relating to the UNCAC. Dr. Shuaibi
stated that despite the fact that Palestine is not officially a state
within the United Nations (UN), hence it is not obliged to implement the
Convention, the government has filled self-evaluation form of the
Convention and sent it to the United Nations. This of course came after
the Palestinian government had adopted and ratified the Convention
through a formal letter to the UN. Furthermore, Dr. Shuaibi gave his
recommendations to Arab parliamentarians and governments to provide the
right environment to CSO to participate in the implementation of the
Convention since the Convention is not intended exclusively to
governments but rather to all sectors of society, first and foremost,
CSO.
Dr. Shuaibi
also presented the Report on Corruption in Palestine prepared by the
Parliamentarians against Corruption Network and in
cooperation with AMAN.
On the other hand, the Executive Director of
AMAN participated in a special workshop on analysis of “Gender Policy
within the Global Network of Parliamentarians against Corruption”.
She stressed the need for a rapprochement of gender issues with the
goals, programs and policy of the International and Arab
Parliamentarians against Corruption Networks. Ms. Zughayar called for
better representation and wider participation of women in Arab
Parliaments and networks. She also pointed out that there are obstacles
on the ground which hinders participation of women especially for women
living in countries under occupation such as Palestine. For example, a
case in point is the denial of Rawya Shawa, an PLC member the
participation in this conference by the Israelis.
It
is worthy to note that representatives from AMAN held many side meetings
with international and Arab institutions during the period of the
conference as well as participating in several press conferences.
At
its closing statement of the Conference the participants adopted many
important decisions such as the need to strengthen the performance of
parliaments as it relates to democracy, legislation, monitoring, and
representation which constitute essential elements in improving
governance. Parliaments’ duties also extend to include promoting public
understanding of the negative effects of corruption and influencing
public opinion in the fight against corruption. Parliamentarians and
members of the Conference also pledged to carry out their duties in the
supervision of public resources and reducing corruption through improved
governance and the adoption of initiatives to combat money-laundering
and the recovery of stolen assets. They also pledged to work with the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and with Governments that have
ratified the UNCAC to provide additional and political leadership to
follow-up on the implementation of the UNCAC
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