2013 Activities

The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity - AMAN Holds its Annual Transparency Festival In Commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day

The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity - AMAN Holds its Annual Transparency Festival In Commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day

The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity "AMAN" held its Annual Transparency Festival 2013, to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day by awarding its yearly Integrity Awards to winners from three sectors in the Palestinian society. The festival was held in Ramallah and Gaza via video conference. It  was attended by a large audience representing official, civil and international institutions. Mr. Rafiq Al Natsheh, Head of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Dr. Hanan Ashrawai, AMAN Board Chairwoman, and a number of representatives of AMAN partner organizations were among the main speakers at the Festival.

In her opening statement, Dr. Ashrawi pointed out achievements realized as a result of AMAN’s work and in particular in the management and control of public funds, as well as in the areas of integrity, transparency and accountability within the Palestinian Authority’s  institutions. In this regard, the Executive Authority, both civil and military, adopted many codes of conduct, enjoy better openness to civil society organizations and receives far better acceptance of its supervisory role. All of these developments led to a trustworthy attention to their reports and recommendations. Dr. Ashrawi signaled out the current constructive dialogue taking place between the civil society organizations and the security service through an initiative adopted by AMAN. The dialogue resulted in the establishment of the Civil Society Forum for Monitoring Security Service. This is deemed to be an evidence of the availability of a genuine political will to deal with civil society organizations as a national component and true replacement of the Palestinian National Authority.

Dr. Ashrawi also stressed that, "We , at AMAN, cannot accept detention and prosecution of journalists on grounds of fulfilling their national, professional and moral obligations towards their nation by unveiling corruption cases." She added that the responsibility of combating corruption requires a national will, integration of the official and public efforts and active participation. For that reason, AMAN endorsed tens of memorandums of cooperation with local authorities and public and civil institutions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Additionally, AMAN prepared and developed codes of conduct, complaint systems, internal control and initiatives in the area of auditing and social accountability. All this has been done with the aim to raise workers' and citizens' awareness, promote their prudence of the public interest and improve the quality of public services. Such achievements will contribute to building bridges of mutual trust between citizens and public institutions.

Dr. Ashrawi made it clear that boosting citizens' involvement in the efforts of combating corruption is one of the strategic objectives of AMAN Coalition. Therefore, AMAN is striving to motivate citizens to report corruption. In this regard, AMAN has provided services of legal support and counseling for more than 800 citizens. Part of these citizens reported corruption cases while others contributed to create structural changes. Such prominent changes include: the Palestinian Cabinet approval of the Law of the Dignified Life Grant for the freed prisoners; the Ministry of telecommunications an Information’s approval of a regulation to regulate competitions and awards offered by telecommunications companies.
Mr. Rafiq Al Natsheh, Head of ACC, highly praised the role of "AMAN" and the exemplary cooperation among all parties involved in combating corruption in the Palestinian society. He pointed out that the Anti-Corruption Commission was established to serve the people who sacrificed and are still suffering from the scourge of the Israeli occupation.
Mr. Al Natsheh talked about the adopted follow-up mechanisms of complaints received by ACC about any corruption file. This is done through verifying the complaint until the defendants are convicted. He expressed his hope to reach to the level of a collective action by all parties to stand firm against the waves of corruption intended to undermine the Palestinian national project, particularly these committed by the Israeli occupation.

Winners of Integrity Awards in 2013

On the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day, AMAN has made it an annual tradition to grant financial and appreciation awards to employees, journalists, whistleblowers and researchers who contributed in unveiling cases of corruption and public funds manipulation in the public sector, local authorities, media and the private sector as well.


Integrity Award for Public Sector and Local Authorities

Mr. Naser Al Halabi won the Public Sector and Local Authorities Award of 2013 for reporting an embezzlement case amounted to NIS 170.682 in Rwaijeeb Village Council in Nablus. It is worthy of noting that Mr. Al Halabi reported that case to AMAN which in turn referred the case file to ACC. Then, the case was referred to the Corruption Crimes Court. The court ruled on the case by a two-year imprisonment and paying JD 100 as a fine. The defendant returned back the embezzled amount subject of the charge.

Mr. Naser Al Halabi

Integrity Award for Media Sector

The winners of the Awards for Media Integrity for this year are: Mr. Ibrahim Anqawi, a journalist from Jenin, for his investigative report titled (The Industry of Death Rooms). In this report he addressed the issue of medical errors in hospitals of the Palestinian National Authority where a number of citizens passed away, more specifically anesthesia errors resulting from poor follow-up.

Also, Hassan Dohan, journalist from Gaza, for his report titled (Gaza: The Cemetery of Premature Babies). In his report he addressed the issue of the Ministry of Health’s decision to stop importing Surfactant Syringe leading to the death of hundreds of premature babies. Additionally he addresses the issue of poor transparency as parents are not advised about their children's need of this injection, as well as to taking advantage of Wasta when delivering it.

Mr. Ibrahim Anqawi


Mr. Dohan Hassan

Integrity Award for the Best Research

Mr. Mahmoud Abu Habib, a researcher from Gaza, won the Award of the Best Research titled (Transparency Standards in International Organizations in Gaza: A case study of UNRWA). The researcher significantly shed the light on the issue of transparency implementation in international organizations, such as UNRWA in Gaza. The research was recognized for narrating the information in sequence, subject in-depth analysis and coming up with applicable recommendations.

Mahmoud Abu Habib
Students' Projects in the Face of Corruption
The transparency celebration included a demonstration of students' projects in the face of corruption presented by Kofr Dan Girls Schools- Jenin, Tammoun Girls Schools- Tubas and KofrNe'mah Girls Schools- Ramallah. Also, there was another demonstration of the initiative titled "Our Country against Wasta" and an artistic show presented by Jafra Band from Gaza Strip.


Partner Organizations Participate in "No to Wasta" Campaign

In the partner organizations speech in "No to Wasta" Campaign, Dr. Mohammed Miqdad, chairman of the Institute of Development Studies in Gaza, pointed out that in light of the Palestinian and international data  the crime of "Wasta" is considered the most prevalent form of corruption in Palestine. In accordance with the Global Corruption Barometer of 2013,  85 % of Palestinian respondents indicated the importance of personal relationships to receive public services. Additionally, in a poll conducted by AMAN on Wastain 2013, 90% of respondents said that they sought Wasta during this year to obtain a public service. Mr. Miqdadasserted that Wasta is one form of corruption that is addressed in the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Law of 2005. He identified that Article (1) of the law states that the crime of accepting favoritism and nepotism which rolls off right out into the void and turns the void into right is deemed to be an act of  corruption as also indicated in Article (25) thereof. Mr. Miqdad indicated that the prevalence of Wasta, favoritism, and corruption helps to create the spirit of hatred and negativity to the group which does not have an access to decision-makers or people with ofinfluence. Such a feeling generates an overall sense of loss of justice and loss of confidence in the social and political systems. Accordingly, this will lead to losingthe sense of citizenship, force brain-drains and immigration of competencies to seek suitable employment opportunities. Such a situation contributes to the predominance of opportunism and selfishness among some influential individuals who are not held accountable and fear no punishment.

Accordingly, it is necessary to keep a tight rein on Wastaand favoritism. This requires the existence of detailed executive regulations on crimes of Wasta and favoritism and prosecuting the perpetrators. Moreover, it is of an utmost importance to accelerate the approval of a special law to protect whistleblowers and the prosecution of the corrupted legally, judicially and socially.

Ms. Hania Bitar, Director of Pyalara organization- Ramallah, talked about the campaign launched as part of the activities of the International Anti-Corruption Day  under the theme (No to Wasta and Favoritism in Appointments and Services .... Yes to Activating Law to Prosecute Perpetrators of Wastaand favoritism ... Prevent Attempts of impunity). The selection of this theme was not a mere coincidence or a random choice, but was tailored to address the reality of the prevailing phenomenon of favoritism regarding appointments in all the Palestinian sectors (public, civil and private). This can be spotted mainly in senior positions in light of the interference of certain considerations, family and partisan interests in appointments irrespective of efficiency. Indeed, the risk of Wasta in service provision is not less than that of recruitment. Ms. Al Bitar clarified that this situation urged AMAN Coalition and its partners to plan and launch this campaign. The campaign includes a variety of activities, such as: raising awareness, exerting pressure to urge official authorities to adopt detailed and effective policies and regulations to face Wasta perpetrators, advocate to encourage citizens to report corruption practices and Wasta in particular. A total of 17 initiatives are currently being implemented in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem by AMAN and its partners.
It is worthy of noting that a group of school boys and girls submitted petitions signed by more than 30,000 persons from all the Palestinian governorates to the Head of Anti-Corruption Commission. They demanded to accelerate the process of taking the necessary actions and measures to reduce the phenomenon of Wasta, as well as restoration of the Palestinian legal system to become more efficient and deterrent to punish perpetrators.

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