Amman, Jordan, 7 March 2006 – A high-level conference organised by Transparency International (TI) brought together government ministers, parliamentarians, diplomatic missions, the private sector and the media to promote the ratification and effective implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in the Middle East and North Africa.

“Governments hear civil society call for greater transparency in the Arab world and are undertaking promising measures to implement these calls for change. But the measures often fall short of substantive changes,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International. “Citizens throughout the Arab world often lack a voice to recount experiences of bribery and extortion that affect their lives and deprive them of education and health services. Ratification of the UN Convention against Corruption gives them this much needed voice.”

The conference, entitled “Promoting the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)”, focused on the overall status of the Convention in the region and examined concrete steps to promote its ratification and effective implementation. Participants included Dr. Sabri Ibehat, Jordan’s Minister of Political Development and Parliamentarian Affairs, and Salem Khazaeleh, Minister of Public Sector Development, as well as representatives from TI’s national chapters in the MENA region.

The conference is the first concrete follow-up to the “Platform for Action” agenda presented at the November 2005 Ministerial meeting of the Forum for the Future in Bahrain. The Platform included three main recommendations, of which the most important was ratification and effective implementation of the UNCAC.

“Fourteen out of 20 Arab and North African countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2005 scored less than 4.0, a sign that efforts to address corruption in these societies remain critically important,” said Casey Kelso, Transparency International’s Director for Africa and the Middle East. “But embedded corruption can be rooted out when people join together to change the system that facilitates it. Ratifying and effectively implementing the UNCAC is a means of doing so.”

The UNCAC has been ratified by four MENA countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Libya. This important and welcome step must now be followed by full implementation of its main provisions: prevention of corruption, criminalisation of corrupt practices and access to information about government spending. The Convention is also particularly innovative in addressing and emphasising international cooperation in asset recovery.

Ratification is urgently needed, because the Conference of the State Parties to the UNCAC will meet at the end of this year in Jordan to develop the Convention’s monitoring mechanism. Only states that have ratified the Convention will be able to participate in this event, influencing the process of reviewing implementation and facilitating the activities required by the Convention.

Transparency International Jordan, which hosted today’s meeting, praises its country’s ratification of the Convention, but expresses concern over the implementation process, including the adaptation of local legislation to meet the Convention’s standards. Basem Sakijha, Chair of TI Jordan, states that his organisation will “exert its efforts in lobbying to insure more public and official awareness of the Convention’s provisions.”

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TI is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption.

Note to Editors:

See TI’s recommendations:
[1] Platform for Action - Transparency and Anti-corruption (English)
[2] Platform for Action - Transparency and Anti-corruption (Arabic)

As to date, 133 countries have signed the UNCAC, but only 35 ratified and deposited it.[3] See the complete list.

Media contacts:
Neda Mansouri
Programme Coordinator of G8 BMENA civil society dialogue on transparency and anti-corruption
Phone: +49-30-3438 20-13

Sarah Tyler
Transparency International Secretariat
Phone: +49-30-3438 20-45
Fax: +49-30-3470 3912
Email: [4] press@transparency.org

Transparency International
Alt Moabit 96
10559 Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49-30-3438 2027
Fax: +49-30-3470 3912
[5] www.transparency.org