As part of his participation in the UNCAC’s Working Groups in Vienna, Major General Khaled Saeed,The Administrative Control Authority’s (ACA) Under Secretary, reviewed Egypt’s Best Anti-Corruption Practices In the Fields of Awareness-Raising, Education, Research and Training.
The address came as follows:
Mr. President.......
Ladies and gentlemen, heads and members of delegations ........
1- At the outset, I wish to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to Mr. Hassan Abdulshafi Ahmed,
President of the ninth session of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (COSP9),
his Vice-Presidents and the Secretariat of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for their efforts leading up to the thirteenth session of the open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption.
Mr. President.........
Ladies and gentlemen.........
2- Since its ratification of the Convention in 2003, Egypt has been very committed to implementing the provisions established thereunder, harnessing all the necessary capacities and resources to strengthen actions in furtherance of the implementation of the Convention.
3- Indeed, Egypt has been working to fulfil all its regional and continental anti-corruption obligations out of belief in the importance of combating corruption for achieving sustainable development, placing emphasis on the principles of transparency, integrity and Human Rights.
Honorable delegates.........
4- Awareness-raising, education, research and training are deemed as key pillars in strengthening the prevention of and fight against corruption, which is the theme of today's session.
For the purpose of implementing UNCAC and the relevant resolutions adopted by the Conference at its various sessions, such as the Marrakesh Declaration, resolutions 5/5, 6/10 and 8/5, the 2021 UNGASS Political Declaration,
5- And, finally, resolution 9/8 on promoting anti-corruption education, awareness-raising and training, which was adopted in COSP9 held in Sharm el-Sheikh, in December 2021.
Honorable delegates...............
6- Egypt has made great strides undertaking activities and initiatives to promote awareness, education, research and training in the field of anti-corruption. These activities can be divided into six main areas: fostering a culture of integrity and anti-corruption; maximizing information activities to contribute to the dissemination of public knowledge against corruption; supporting anti-corruption education; promoting ethics and integrity training; conducting comprehensive and multidisciplinary research; and adopting the Global Initiative for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment (GRACE).
Ladies and gentlemen.........
7- If we talk about fostering the culture of integrity and anti-corruption, we will find that Egypt has many successful practices adopted in this regard; it developed the Code of Ethics for University Students, Code of Ethics for University Faculty, and the professional Code of Conduct for University Staff .... In order for them to identify and have greater role against the forms of corruption.
8- Further, a simulation model was made for UNCAC COSP with the participation of 140 Cairo University students from various schools, of whom 15 students were selected to partake in the events of COSP9 held in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2021.
9- Moreover, it has been over fifty years since the State of Egypt adopted the Cairo International Book Fair, that is one of the main educational forums attended by the young and old from all over the Republic and abroad. In 2022, the Administrative Control Authority participated for the first time in the Fifty-third edition of the Fair.
10- The Authority's pavilion included quite a few research papers and publications on corruption and its negative impacts; as well as, the constitutional, legal and institutional frameworks of anti-corruption bodies and committees in Egypt, with a view to fostering a culture of integrity and anti-corruption.
11- On the sidelines of the Book Fair, several seminars were organized to raise community awareness of the gravity of corruption and presented, inter alia, "Egypt's Strategy for Preventing and Combating Corruption: Towards the New Republic".
Honorable delegates...............
12- With regard to anti-corruption education support, Egypt has introduced many relevant practices both in pre-university and university education .... In pre-university education, it made sure to include concepts pertinent to transparency, integrity and intolerance to corruption in the curricula of various levels, including psycho-education, citizenship education, Arabic language and psychology.
13- And given that curriculum developers are the core of the development process,
workshops have been held to explain the importance of student education about the gravity of corruption and the benefits of introducing the relevant concepts to students. Also, training programs have been developed for the teachers, administrators and leaders of the Ministry of Education concerning the promotion of values of integrity and transparency and awareness of the risks of and ways to prevent corruption.
14- As for university education, a course entitled "Human Rights and Anti-Corruption" is currently being taught in all State colleges and universities as part of the courses that must be successfully passed ... before obtaining the university degree in order to introduce the student to the principles of transparency, integrity, anti-corruption and human rights.
15- In this respect, the National Anti-Corruption Academy in Cairo, the training arm of the Administrative Control Authority, ... developed a Diploma and Master's degree programs in "Governance and Anti-Corruption", in cooperation with the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University.
16- Having been keen as well to develop the academic expertise of law enforcement agencies, members of the Authority were dispatched to the International Anti-Corruption Academy for study.
17- As such, joint programs have been developed between the two academies in the areas related to corruption prevention.
18- Egypt recognizes the importance of using interactive educational technology for stepping up the fight against corruption. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Technical Education teaches curricula related to promoting integrity and anti-corruption, such as the Citizenship course, via interactive platforms. The Ministry of Higher Education also provides the "Human Rights and Anti-Corruption" course through an e-learning system, which allows students to take the course remotely.
Ladies and gentlemen.........
19- In view of the importance of research and keeping pace with innovation in order to prevent and combat corruption, the National Anti-Corruption Academy established a "Research Center on Corruption Prevention and Control" to conduct specialized research and studies in the fields of anti-corruption, prevention and protection; to collect corruption-related data and statistics; and to bring forward, analyze, consider and examine ways to and feasibility of proposals and initiatives for corruption prevention and control.
20- To encourage young people to do research in anti-corruption, Cairo University held a competition for best policy papers in "improving public services and combating corruption", and the winning papers were granted the opportunity to take part in a competition for best development policy papers at the level of Egyptian universities.
21- In Egypt, training, support and capacity building relevant to preventing and combating corruption receive the attention of political leaders ... The National Anti-Corruption Academy has held several training courses for government officials, the private sector, civil society and citizens.
22- Trainings were also provided for Arab and African law enforcement agencies for the purpose of implementing the eighth objective of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy on international cooperation.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize .......
23- That Egypt is determined to continue its efforts to promote awareness, education, research and training in the field of preventing and combating corruption... Believing in the importance of combating corruption for achieving sustainable development for a decent life of justice, well-being, development, and prosperity for our peoples.
Now, allow me to present a short video on best practices adopted by Egypt in this field...