Results of Palestine in the Global Corruption Barometer- GCB

Transparency International through its Through its national branches – The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) in Palestine-  launched the Global Corruption Barometer in eleven countries in MENA region Including Palestine (in addition to Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen).

This Barometer is a public opinion poll conducted once every two years by Transparency International in a number of countries through centers and companies specialized in opinion polls. The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) carried out the poll from 25 to 27 September 2014 on a sample of 1,200 adults who were interviewed face to face in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Key findings of the survey in Palestine showed that 70% of those questioned think that corruption increased during 2014.

While 35% of Palestinian citizens considered corruption an important problem to be solved by the government in addition to the problems of economy and governance.

61% of those questioned considered the efforts of the Palestinian government in combating corruption as somehow poor. On the other hand, 11% stated that they or a member of their family paid bribery at least once in order to receive a public service.

73% of those questioned didn’t report a case of corruption to one of the government’s officials or an official in one of the three authorities, and when they were asked about the reasons, majority stated the fear of the consequences and Whistleblowing won’t make a difference, while others said that corruption is natural and everyone practices, and other said the reason was the lack of awareness on where to report such cases and lack of awareness on the whistleblowing process.

It is worth mentioning that in our Palestinian society whistleblowing on corruption is influenced by the society’s culture, as some might consider it as slander and hence an unacceptable behavior due to the strong connections between citizens as families or tribes. On the other hand, the majority said that reporting corruption is a personal obligation and commitment, and that they are ready to spend time in courts to present their testimony on cases of corruption that they witnessed.