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Central Asia ProjectIn the twenty years since independence, corruption has become a major hindrance towards the development of Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). Economic growth over this period, in many cases fostered by energy resources such as oil, gas, and hydropower, has increased the scope and extent of corruption, in addition to increasing perceived and actual inequality. As recently demonstrated by the ouster of the Kyrgyz President, corruption and waning public tolerance for misuse of government funds and poor living conditions can also contribute to political instability and violence. Organizations such as World Bank and Transparency International that aggregate a number of indices to provide overall corruption 'scores' suggest that the countries of the region continue to score in the bottom quartile globally and that corruption may, in fact, be getting worse (charts below).
Other organizations providing perception and experience-based surveys of corruption in the sub-region paint a similar picture highlighting the systemic nature of corruption in the sub-region and its impact on peoples’ daily lives. For example, Global Integrity Report’s “Reporter’s Notebook” details the various ways in which corruption becomes institutionalized or affects the mentality of citizens. The report highlights how citizens justify corruption as a way to build relationships or break through government-imposed barriers or how Kyrgyz’ customs officers charge for all goods that pass through customs and share the proceeds with the head of their station. The Business Anti-Corruption Portal provides a sector-by-sector analysis of individual, business, and political corruption in addition to a measurement of corruption frequency (i.e. 55% of Kazakh road police admitted to taking part in corruption). Despite their varying methodologies and goals, together, the diverse measures provide an overview of the main causes and impacts of corruption and the failure to effectively address it. Prevention of Corruption Activities Governments in the sub-region have become increasingly open to anti-corruption initiatives, partly due to pressure from the international community and interest in increasing foreign investment. All 5 countries are State Parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and have joined or are in the process of joining various international watchdog organizations or networks, such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Anti-Corruption Network (ACN), which require regular self-assessments or external evaluations of the environment for corruption. Countries in the region have also introduced anti-corruption strategies and legislation that criminalizes corruption, extortion, bribes, money laundering, or any use of public resources for private gain. In general, this existing legislative and institutional set up in the countries of the sub-region shows that prevention of corruption is understood mostly as part of the law enforcement activities; there is little substantive implementation of the reforms required by the UNCAC for corruption prevention. Weaknesses in the Prevention of Corruption Area
Existing anti-corruption strategies and policy frameworks in Central Asian countries fall short in promoting reforms and concrete measures to operationalize the broad approach to prevention of corruption provided for by the UNCAC. The UNCAC requires Members States to "develop and implement coordinated anti-corruption policies that promote the participation of society and reflect the principles of the rule of law, proper management of public affairs and public property, integrity transparency and accountability" (Art. 5, point 1 - Chapter II Preventive Measures). Public administration reform must include improvements in the area of human resources management, ethics and codes of conduct, public procurement and management of public funds, public reporting and enhancing civil society access to information and awareness on corruption related issues. Some prevention of corruption measures have been introduced by the Central Asian countries; Kyrgyzstan’s Strategy on Fight against Corruption and the relative action plan contain a chapter on corruption prevention, and the country also established a Corruption Prevention Agency. Some elements of corruption prevention are also present in Kazakhstan’s State Anti-Corruption Programme. In Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan there is no prevention of corruption framework. In general, the existing legislative and institutional set up in the countries of the sub-region shows that prevention of corruption is understood mostly as part of the law enforcement activities and there is little substantive implementation of the reforms required by the UNCAC. In addition, existing strategies, programmes and concepts are often declarative and not concrete. Some strategies are missing action plans for implementation, or the available action plans do not provide for measurable results, clear deadlines and allocation of responsibilities. Challenges for Prevention of Corruption in Central AsiaThe UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre (UNDP BRC) conducted a general analysis of the existing prevention activities in the Central Asian countries and identified two major challenges for enhancing public agencies’ capacities in this area: 1) Informing policy makers on the presence and impact of corruption in the various public sectors. The design of prevention of corruption policies and measures should be based on a thorough analysis of corruption and of its systemic causes in specific services and functions of the public administration. Despite the existence of a certain number of research and assessments on corruption and integrity in the Central Asian countries the decision making processes for the fight against corruption in the sub-region would benefit from the development of coordinated approaches providing information on corruption presence and typologies, on the effectiveness of the policies implemented and on the vulnerabilities to corruption within the administrative system. Measurements and surveys relative to specific public services should contain input-based indicators (measuring the existence and quality of anti-corruption or governance institutions, rules, and procedures) and output-based indicators (measuring the impact of corruption on quality of life and public service delivery, i.e., the de facto deliverables of the governance system). 2) The introduction of sound corruption prevention policies and legislations needs then to be accompanied by the development of effective implementation mechanisms and by a series of capacity development activities for public officials aiming at preparing them to understand and apply the new regimes. A big challenge for the implementation of corruption prevention measures in Central Asian countries is constituted by the traditional prevalence of law enforcement and suppression activities in combating crimes in general (and corruption) against prevention and education activities. This misbalanced approach appears evident when observing the institutional set up for handling corruption prevention activities in some of the Central Asian countries: in Kazakhstan, even though a Commission for Corruption Prevention with coordination and monitoring role has been established, the main anti corruption authority is the financial police. In Tajikistan and Uzbekistan the leading role for the fight against corruption (including corruption prevention) is plaid by the Prosecutors’ Office. In all countries, the capacity of integrity agencies to perform corruption prevention functions as those prescribed by UNCAC seems very limited. Enhancing Capacities for Corruption Prevention in Central Asia
UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre (UNDP BRC) will start a consultation with the UNDP Country Offices in Central Asia for the development of a regional project (to run between 2011 and 2013) that aims at enhancing the capacity of Governments in Central Asian countries to plan, design and implement prevention of corruption activities. Currently UNDP BRC is starting the implementation of an inception phase of the project that, by the first quarter of 2011, will produce a Baseline Study gathering and analyzing corruption patterns and vulnerabilities within specific elements of the national integrity systems in Central Asian Countries.
The inception phase will be concluded by a workshop gathering practitioners from agencies in Central Asian countries dealing with activities related to prevention of corruption, practitioners and experts working in UNDP and in other international organizations in the region, NGOs and donors. The workshop is expected to: |
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