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The Palestinian Coalition for Integrity and Accountability – Aman held
its annual transparency festival under the slogan "towards the rule of
law and the independence of the judiciary". Under the auspices of the
President of the High Judicial Council, Chancellor Issa Abu Sharar, the
festival was held in the cities of Ramallah and Gaza through video
conferencing facilitates on the occasion of the International Anti
Corruption Day.
At the start of the festival in Commodore Hotel in Gaza, Dr. Kamal
Sharafi, Aman's Deputy Commissioner, stressed the fact that the festival
is being held at a time when Palestine is in the midst of a difficult
and complex situation. While the occupation continues to adopt racist
measures against the Palestinians, the internal Palestinian conflict is
exacerbating.
Beside its obvious impact on the daily lives, the internal Palestinian
divide provides a fertile ground for the depletion of energies and
resources, therefore causes the poverty and unemployment to increase
further, promotes corruption, and becomes an obstacle to reforms in
political and economic system. This event aims to advocate for the
review of our legal and judicial system which represents a national
stepping stone out of the situation.
In his speech, Dr. Sharafi maintained that Aman, the Palestinian
Coalition for Integrity and Accountability, was essentially created to
promote accountability and transparency. Over the years, Aman has
carried out activities and strived to inform the Palestinian citizenry
on the phenomenon of corruption. The coalition also paid special
attention to building valuable relations with similar institutions at
the regional and international levels. All efforts were geared to
promote value that aim to strengthen the principles of transparency and
accountability. Since the work of Aman Coalition has been characterized
by independence from factional and partisan influence, Dr Sharafi
extended a call for the Palestinian civil society organizations to join
the Coalition.
The president of the Palestinian Higher Judicial Council, Chief Justice
Issa Abu Sharar, emphasized the role of the judiciary in the fight
against corruption. Many accomplishments have recently been achieved
with support from President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Dr. Salam
Fayyad. This year the Higher Judiciary Council adopted some important
steps exemplified by the hiring of judges in accordance with the highest
degree of transparency. Special committees were formed to oversee the
entire recruitment process. In addition the Media and Information
department was established in order to undertake the task of
disseminating information and facts to the relevant parties. The Chief
Justice confirmed the intentions of the Council to development and put
into action further plans for the development of the Palestinian
judiciary. Abu Sharar explained that the adoption of courts'
administrative and financial manuals as well as the approval of new
oversight mechanism to follow up with the working time of the
judiciary's personnel as some of the most important judicial
accomplishment which also includes the addition of new buildings
incorporating scientific and sound security systems. Furthermore most
court houses in the Palestinian cities will see the addition of new
building and much improvement to their public services.
The Higher Judicial Council has begun the implementation of the recent
survey to assess the performance of the Palestinian judiciary. Abu
sharer confirmed that Israeli checkpoints constitute a major cause of
inability of Palestinian institutions to enforce court rulings in some
legal cases. Moreover, areas behind the separation wall have become a
major cause behind the non-resolution of some pending legal cases.
Nevertheless, the Council is working to develop regulatory programs for
the Palestinian judiciary which will be implemented during the next
year.
For his part, Dr. Azmi Shuaibi, the Commissioner-General for Aman's
Coalition, emphasized the relationship between the civil society and the
Palestinian judiciary in relation to the corruption files brought to the
attention of the Palestinian prosecution office. The existing memorandum
of understanding with the judiciary aims at keeping the doors open for
the community and educational institutions to become more informed of
the role of the judiciary. This MOU would allow the civil society
institutions to play its oversight role over the institutions of the
Palestinian National Authority but would also provide an opportunity for
establishing mutual relationships between the relevant parties in order
to lay the foundations for transparency.
Dr. Azmi Shuaibi maintained that the ongoing cooperation between the
Public Prosecution and Aman Coalition where Aman, in cooperation with
the Economic Crimes and Corruption Department, provided
corruption-specific information pertaining in cases of corruption under
investigation by public prosecutors.
Since Aman Coalition defines corruption as the misuse of public office
for private interests, a list was prepared to show corruption cases in
the Palestinian institutions that fall under this definition. Therefore,
all cases related to economic crimes, as per the aforementioned
definition, are excluded as corruption cases. However, a review of all
crimes filed at the Corruption and Economic Crimes Prosecution office
that:
Combined corruption and economic crime cases:
The total number of cases in 2007 reached 820, of which 14 cases (or
11%) are corruption-related, 35 were closed, 52 are referred to the
Court, while 41 cases are still under investigation. In 2008, the number
of cases totaled 81 of which 43 cases were referred to the court and 38
are still under investigation.
It was also noted that a large number of corruption cases are still open
or closed since 2004 for many reasons, most important of which is the
non-completion of immunity withdrawal procedures. About 13 cases involve
figures that held senior executive positions.
Moreover, a review of corruption files reveals that corruption in the
Palestinian context takes the following forms: misuse of public office
and trust for personal interests, embezzlement of public funds, receipt
of bribery, fraud, money laundry, and manipulation of laws and
resolutions for private gains.
Dr. Shuaibi explained that there are many considerations behind the low
number of corruption crimes before the Attorney General, such as:
1. According to the Criminal Procedure Code (No. 3) for the
year 2001, the Prosecution is not allowed to investigate or bring a
criminal case before the court unless based on civil complaint or
allegation. Similarly the prosecution can not request permission except
on the basis of written or oral complaint from the victim or his agent,
or upon a civil claim from the person or his/her agent, or upon request
or permission from the competent authority. In this respect, the public
prosecution of its own accords can not loge
a case or open an investigation unless preceded by a complaint.
2. In cases where the law requires the presence of a
complaint or a claim to a civil right from the victim or others, the
complaint or allegations is not acceptable unless lodged within three
months of the day the victim knowledge of the crime and perpetrator or
unless otherwise provided by the law. For this reason, many crimes are
dismissed because they are lodged after the expiry of the period
determined by the law for filing complaints.
3. The absence of a culture oriented to the pursuit of
justice and holding violators of the law accountable for their actions.
The Secretary General of Transparency International, Ms. Angela Keller,
urged the governments of the world to undertake more
anticorruption efforts. As corruption moves across borders so does the
work of Transparency International by virtue of its network of 90
affiliated international institutions spearheading the fight to compact
corruption promote transparency. She also pointed out that Aman is the
third Arab institution to join Transparency International which
testifies to Aman's effectiveness in the fight against corruption in
Palestine. The coalition is also active at the regional level where Aman
will soon launch a project for advocacy and legal counseling centers.
The main challenge is the adopted approach to fighting corruption which
must be holistic in nature and open to the public.
In his address on behalf of the UNDP/PAPP, Mr. Shinji Hirose pointed out
that corruption is a major obstacle to development, production and
systems' restructuring programs making corruption a word-wide phenomenon
rather than being exclusive to the developing countries. The United
Nations considers all actions undertaken by the Palestinian people and
Palestinian government pertinent to integrity and transparency very
essential. Aman Coalition has succeeded in developing plans and programs
for the promotion of transparency and accountability and combating
corruption in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Therefore, it is imperative
for all actors in Palestine to adopt a collective approach to the fight
against corruption in order to achieve a better future for the
Palestinian people.
Integrity Awards
For his part, Mr. Talal Awkal, a member of Aman's board and the
technical committee of the integrity awards explained the working of
these committees pointing out that rewarding those individuals who
uncover the cases or corruption is an important step in the right
direction. However, combating corruption faces many obstacles not only
on in light of the weakness of the judiciary and the ongoing state of
internal division but also for the continuing decline in public freedoms
and curtailed role of the civil society institutions.
Mr. Awkal pointed out that the awarding technical committees consist of
a number of renowned academics, media personalities, and civil society
and community leaders, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The festival concluded with the distribution of the annual integrity and
accountability awards to their winners. The journalist Ghazi Bani Odeh
was granted the 2008 award for integrity and accountability for his
investigative reporting on expired and counterfeit food and medicines
and to the journalist Abdel Basset Khalaf for his reporting on urban
sprawling to the Palestinian agricultural areas and more specifically in
Marj Ibn Amer area.
The 2008 integrity and accountability award for the public sector
employees went to Mr. Ibrahim Qindah who was harassed after he blew the
whistle on corruption cases in the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
that involved bribery and exploitation of public position. The National
Insurance Company received the 2008 integrity and accountability in
designated for private firms (private sector).
The 2008 integrity and accountability award for employees of the local
governments has been withheld because no candidate fulfilled the award's
requirements.
Children of Palestine: an Eye on
Corruption"
Ten children received Aman's prizes for winning the "Children of
Palestine: an Eye on Corruption" drawing competition which were
distributed equally between participants from the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. Gaza winners are: Mohamed Ragab, Karaam Abu Jasser, Mohammed
Hussein, Amjad Turki, and May Waheeda. Three of the five winners from
the West Bank came from Bethlehem schools which are: Ibrahim Astfan,
Baraa' Fayez Abu Joudeh and Mohammed Odeh. The remaining students are
May Awni and Omar Turkman both of which are from Nablus district.
Special acclaim was also made to the members of the technical awards
committee comprised of Mohsen Saleh, Ahmed Abu Arqoub, Musa Abu Dhim,
Said Kullab, and Mustafa Shehadeh.
Then the festival honored the journalists and media personalities
participating in the award committees that were composed of: Hassan
Kashef, Talal Awkal, Jaber Mohsen, Mohsen Franji, and Fathi Sabah
In addition, the festival recognized the members of the special technical
committees for the private sector award that included: Amjad Badran,
Tha'era Moussa, and Raed Abu Zaa'rour
The festival made special tribute to the following artists who sat on the
panel of judges for the children's drawing competition: Suleiman
Mansour, Nabil Anani, Mohamed Saleh, Yusuf Kitleh, Abeer Al-Khatib,
Ahmad Abu Haniyya, Ahmed Al-Mughrabi, Nour Almasri, Walid Abbas and Ali
Al-Addam.
At the end of the festival, the participants toured the children's
drawing exhibition for the youngsters who had participated in a drawing
competition entitled "Children of Palestine: An Eye on Corruption".
Thousands of children took part in this competition which Aman organized
this year in more than a hundred of UNRWA and private schools in both of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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