Ramallah: Human Rights and Democracy Media Center “SHAMS” concluded a training course targeted a group of security apparatuses affiliates and law enforcement entities on combating corruption under the National & International Law, in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom “FNF”. Attended by representatives of the Supreme Judicial Council, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Corruption’s Crimes Court, Ramallah and Al Bireh Governorate, National Security Forces, Civil Defense, Military Intelligence, Military Medical Services, Preventive Security, Customs Police, Military Judiciary, the Civil Police, General Intelligence Service, the security forces Judiciary, and the Presidential Guard
The training course was opened by Mohammed Al Najjar representing “SHAMS” Center who welcomed the attendees and underlined the importance of targeting the law enforcement entities as the first focal point between the citizen and the political regime, and at the same time the entity authorized by law to follow up violations and restore the rights to citizens threatened by the corruption system.
The two-day training course aimed at building the capacity of the Palestinian security apparatuses’ affiliates and law enforcement entities with regard to corruption in national domestic legislation, laws and international conventions, and enhancing their capacity to combat corruption from their positions as law enforcement personnel. Besides, furthering the knowledge of participants regarding the reality of combating corruption n Palestine, strengthening their knowledge of the relationship between combating corruption and the respect for human rights & fundamental freedoms contained in international human rights conventions, Palestinian laws and legislation and the reciprocal adverse effect of each on the other, and contributing to affect the trends and implementations by urging law enforcement entities to get involved in the reform process and exert greater efforts in combating corruption and bring the corrupted to justice.
The attorney and the academic Bilal Barghouthi addressed the concept of corruption, its forms, its effects, its results and the mechanisms of combating it, introducing the concepts and values related to fighting corruption (integrity, accountability, transparency, good governance), identifying the Palestinian legislations in combating corruption, the code of conduct for public servants and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
The attorney Dr. Mahmoud Alawneh tackled the topic of human rights and combating corruption by identifying human rights concepts, focusing on the effects of corruption on human rights in various fields, identifying the mechanisms of law enforcement and prosecution and its role in facing corruption, and discussed how the UNCAC addressed this system at legislative and institutional levels.
At the end of the training course participants recommended the need to hold further training courses to raise awareness and efficiency of law enforcement entities and to target other personnel, to harmonize domestic legislation with international conventions, to publish the United Nations Convention against Corruption in the Official Gazette immediately to ensure its effect as a valid Palestinian legal framework and the duty of respecting it legally. Also, they recommended having greater openness by civil society organizations to law enforcement entities and the police to enhance collaboration and coordination between the two sides, and the need to communicate more among them to serve final interest of the citizens. In addition to avoid confrontational relationship, the need for the Anti-Corruption Commission to follow up and prosecute the corrupted, and the need to leverage the experiences of other countries in the fight against corruption.