SPAI regional conference
September 27-29, 2001
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Conclusions and country action plans
In a bid to counter the malign
influence of corruption in South Eastern Europe, the Stability Pact
Anti-Corruption Initiative (SPAI) held its first regional dialogue
on civil society in Cavtat, Croatia, on 17-19 September
2001.
Some 100 senior government officials and leading
business, trade union, media and civil society representatives from
SPAI countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
FRY, FYROM, Moldova and Romania), as well as representatives of the
donor community and of major international governmental and
non-governmental organisations shared views and ideas on developing
collaborative partnerships to combat corruption at the national and
regional level.
Partners in the conference included the American Bar
Association (ABA-CEELI), the Balkan Human Rights Network, the
Constitutional and Legal Policy Institute (COLPI), the Council of
Europe, the European Commission, the Integra Foundation, the
International Organisation of Employers, Medienhilfe
Ex-Yugoslawien, the Office of the High Representative (OHR), The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the
Soros Open Society Institute, the Trade Union Advisory Committee to
the OECD, Transparency International (TI), the United Nations
Center for International Crime Prevention (UNCICP), the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank.
The conference was sponsored by the US Government
and hosted by the Government of Croatia. It was chaired by Judge
Giuseppe di Gennaro, Chairman of the SPAI. The conference reflected
a strong consensus to further involve civil society organisations,
businesses and trade unions and the media in the fight against
corruption.
The objective of the Conference was to take stock of
civil society capacities in the fight against corruption, encourage
the strengthening of collaborative arrangements between SPAI
governments and their civil society in the framework of SPAI, and
promote donor support at the country level in accordance with those
arrangements.
Conference participants:
-
Agreed that civil society is a key political
ally of governments in designing anti-corruption strategies and
that building private/public sector coalitions is critical to
developing and sustaining reform measures.
-
Noted progress made by SPAI governments to
greater involve civil society in the fight against corruption and
to enhance the enabling environment for civil society
participation.
-
Stressed the importance to further involve
employers and employees organisations in that fight and promote
ethical standards in business and good corporate governance.
-
Recognised the need to address the regional
dimension of corruption and therefore to promote a regional
approach to strengthen the involvement of civil society.
-
Identified priority measures to fight
corruption including:
- empowering NGOs, media and business organisations to galvanize
community action, generate political commitment and create a
pattern of honesty in business transactions;
- enabling independent investigative journalists;
- building public/private partnerships and networks to monitor
anti-corruption activities and underpin reform efforts;
- establishing participatory and proactive strategies to enhance
anti-corruption efforts of all parties concerned;
-
Recognised the value-added of the SPAI in
supporting the active involvement of civil society in the fight
against corruption.
-
Encouraged donor organisations to organise
support at the country level for operationalizing reform
efforts.
Implementation strategies: Civic
and government interaction
Participants reached a consensus on the need to:
-
Develop strategic action plans for
fighting corruption in co-operation with civil society
organisations (CSO)s;
-
Strengthen the legal framework for
CSOs and involve CSOs in the process;
-
Strengthen institutional
capacities;
-
Use new tools and instruments such
as public hearings and roundtables in policy-making;
-
Exchange ideas and good practices
at the regional level;
-
Build strategic partnerships
between government and civil society whenever possible;
-
Start with pilot projects before
institutionalizing;
-
Raise public awareness;
-
Focus efforts on increasing CSOs
capacities.
Implementation strategies: Enlisting business and
trade unions
Participants:
-
Noted the need for changing the
business environment because corruption interferes with competition
on the basis of price, quality, and service and erodes the
integrity of managers and employees;
-
Stressed the importance of
promoting ethical standards in business and supporting good
corporate governance and transparency in the privatization
process;
-
Encouraged the development of civil
society networks that would encompass NGOs, business associations
and trade unions;
-
Called for technical assistance to
business associations and trade unions to strengthen their training
capacity, in particular in the field of accounting rules and fiscal
transparency, and to help them develop systems for monitoring tax
and cash flows and sound appeal procedures in public
procurement;
-
Encouraged the sharing of good
practices, with particular emphasis on the role of business
associations and trade unions in the fight against
corruption.
Implementation strategies: Mass
media and access to public information
Participants recognized the importance of:
-
Encouraging media to raise public
awareness by organizing awareness campaigns, if possible in
co-operation with the government;
-
Ensuring non-discriminatory access to
public information;
-
Strengthening the independence of the
media, in particular through reviewing the system of state
subsidies to media, which can put such independence at risk;
-
Improving the legal framework
concerning electronic media and ensuring continuity in the fiscal
rules applicable to media;
-
Enhancing security of journalists
through legal means;
-
Enhancing the employment conditions
of journalists and their professionalism via training and the
development of codes of ethics and developing networks of
trainers.
Country action plans
Government and civil society representatives of SPAI
countries agreed to undertake a number of actions during the next
12 months to promote the further involvement of civil society in
the fight against corruption (see annexes). Commitments developed
by governments and their civil society include:
-
Albania: raise public
awareness: use media, pamphlets, surveys, and CSOs, and review
results every 3 months;
-
Bosnia and Herzegovina: invite
CSOs to participate in the development of a national
anti-corruption strategy and organize regular meetings of the
Anti-Corruption working group;
-
Croatia: develop a code of
ethics for both the public and private sector and initiate a media
campaign for the upcoming Conflict of Interest draft law;
-
FYR Macedonia: draft a
Sunshine Law to provide access to Government's information and
invite CSOs to join the Anti-Corruption team;
-
FRY/Montenegro: systematically
involve civil society organizations in the implementation of the
anti-corruption action plan, which includes, the drafting of an
Illicit Enrichment law and the development of an Anti-Money
Laundering Scheme;
-
Moldova: involve Transparency
International in surveying, awareness raising and coordinating
meetings with the Government, and develop film and media usage to
raise public awareness;
-
Romania: re-write NGO laws to
facilitate the registration and management of NGOs and provide
means for NGOs to monitor the Public Procurement process and
contract awards.
Follow-up
- Participants agreed that the civil society country
reports discussed during the Conference would be adopted by silent
procedure.
- Participants urged the conference organisers,
partner institutions, and other donors and/or interested parties to
actively pursue bilateral contacts, strategies and programmes of
mutual assistance for supporting the implementation of the action
plans developed during the Conference and therefore for advancing
integrity and combating corruption in South East Europe.
- Participants welcomed the offers for provision of
support made by the international donor community present in
Cavtat. Countries of the region will make known their specific
assistance requirements to meet the policy objective of the country
recommendations and action plans and will co-operate with the
assistance providers in the elaboration, organisation and
implementation of assistance and capacity-building programmes.
- Participants noted that another SPAI meeting will
be held within one year to review progress on the basis of country
reports and action plans. The result of the review will be widely
disseminated to all parties concerned with the fight against
corruption.
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