Human rights

Groups participants:
▪mariam Salama Abdelghany(21061125)
▪shahd helmy Ali(21060441)
▪mariam Mohammed ahmed(21060717)
 Corruption How corruption is defined
We define corruption as the abuse of entrusted power
for private gain Corruption is the misuse of public power (by elected(1)
.politician or appointed civil servant) for private gain
In order to ensure that not only public corruption but also private
corruption between individuals and businesses could be covered by the
same simple definition
Corruption is the misuse of entrusted power (by heritage, education,
.marriage, election, appointment or whatever else) for private gain
A much more difficult, scientific definition for the concept ‘corruption’
:was developed by professor (emeritus) dr. Petrus van Duyne
Corruption is an improbity(2) or decay in the decision-making process in
which a decision-maker consents to deviate or demands deviation from
the criterion(3) which should rule his or her decision-making, in
exchange for a reward or for the promise or expectation of a reward,
while these motives influencing his or her decision-making cannot be
part of the
.justification of the decision
:Corruption can take many forms, and can include behaviours like
■public servants demanding or taking money or favours in exchange
for services
■oliticians misusing public money or granting public jobs or contracts to
their sponsors friends and families
■orporations bribing(4) officials to get lucrative deals

Corruption can happen anywhere: in business, government, the

courts, the media, and in civil society, as well as across all sectors from
.health and education to infrastructure and sports

Corruption can involve anyone: politicians, government officials,

.public servants, business people or members of the public

1)‫)يرشي‬4 ‫)معيار‬3 ‫)منافي الاخالق‬2 ‫منتخب‬

Corruption happens in the shadows, often with the help of
professional enablers such as bankers, lawyers, accountants and real
estate agents, opaque

financial systems and anonymous shell companies that allow corruption

schemes to flourish and the corrupt to launder and hide their illicit
wealth
Corruption adapts to different contexts and changing circumstances. It
can evolve in response to changes in rules, legislation(5) and even
technology.
Major corruption comes close whenever major events involving large
sums of money, multiple ‘players’, or huge quantities of products (think of
food and pharmaceuticals) often in disaster situations, are at stake.
Preferably, corruption flourishes in situations involving high technology
(no one understands the real quality and value of products), or in
situations that are chaotic. Think of civil war: who is responsible and who
is the rebel? Natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, droughts. global
community reacts quickly but local government might be disorganised
and disoriented. Who maintains law and order? Or maybe the purchase
of a technologically far advanced aircraft, while only a few can
understand the technologies implied in development and .production.
 of such a plane. Mostly , the sums of money involved are huge, a
relatively small amount of corrupt payment is difficult to attract
attention. Or the number of actions is very large, for instance in betting
stations for results of Olympic Games or international soccer tournaments
which can easily be manipulated. Geo-politics might play a role like e.g.

5)‫تشريع‬

the East-West conflict did in the second half of the 20th century, in which
the major country-alliances(6) sought support from non- aligned
countries.
We know that corruption will not disappear from society. Our efforts are
meant to restrict corruption and to protect as much as possible the poor
and weak in our societies. In the end all corruption costs are paid by the
consumer and the tax-payer. They need protection.

Fighting corruption
Corruption is a serious impediment(7) to the rule of law and
sustainable development Most legal systems are traditionally familiar
with the offence of corruption.
In the Declaration of the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law, Member
States recognized the negative impact of corruption, which obstructs
economic growth and development, erodes public confidence,legitimacy(8)
and transparency and hinders the making of fair and effective laws, as well
as their administration, enforcement and adjudication It also stressed the
importance of the rule of law as an essentia. element in addressing and
preventing corruption
The UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) was adopted by the
General Assembly through resolution 58/4 in 2003 and entered into force
in December 2005. UNCAC is the first legally binding instrument against
corruption. It presents a comprehensive set of standards,
measures and rules that all state parties to the convention should apply
to strengthen their legal and regulatory regimes to fight corruption. The
United Nations provides assistance to Member States in implementing
the

6)‫شرعيه‬ )8 ‫)عائق‬7 ‫تحالفات‬

UNCAC as well as in strengthening capacities to prevent, detect and

investigate corruption, and to implement programmes to promote
transparency, integrity and accountability in criminal justice(9) and rule
of .law institutions
The United Nations Convention(10) against Corruption is the only legally
binding universal anti-corruption instrument. The Convention's far-
reaching approach and the mandatory character of many of its
provisions make it a unique tool for developing a comprehensive
response to a global problem. The vast majority of United Nations
Member States are parties to the Convention
The text of the United Nations Convention against Corruption was
negotiated during seven sessions of the Ad Hoc Committee for the
Negotiation of the Convention against Corruption, held between 21
January 2002 and 1 October 2003
The Convention covers five main areas: preventive measures,
criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset
recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange. The
Convention covers many different forms of corruption, such as bribery,
trading in influence, abuse of functions, and various acts corruptionin the
private sector.
Preventive measures
An entire chapter of the Convention is dedicated to prevention,measures
directed at both the public and private sectors

Criminalization and law enforcement

The Convention requires countries to establish criminal and other
offences to cover a wide range of acts of corruption.
__________________________________________________
9)‫)اتفاقيه‬10 ‫عداله جنائيه‬

International cooperation
Countries are bound by the Convention to render specific forms of
mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence for use in
court, .to extradite offenders

Asset recovery
A highlight of the Convention is the inclusion of a specific chapter on
asset recovery, aimed at returning assets to their rightful owners,
. including countries from which they had been taken illicitly
The prime reason for fighting corruption is the need to uphold the
integrity(11) of
public administration and the confidence of the citizens that the public
.administration and the political system must be able to command

The role of the media in fighting corruption

The media (including social media) has an important role in the fight
against corruption as it can demand accountability and transparency
from the public and private sectors. There are several studies that have
demonstrated the correlation between press freedom and corruption
(Bolsius, 2012; Brunetti and Weder, 2003; Chowdhury, 2004; Fardig,
Andersson, and Oscarsson, 2011). The media provides information on
public sector corruption where governmental activity is opaque by design
or by default. The media, and in particular investigative journalism, plays
a crucial role in exposing corruption to public scrutiny and fighting
against impunity. This is set out in the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) report on the role of the media and
investigative journalism (2018). A prominent example of international
cooperation activities that brought fraud and corruption to the attention

11)‫النزاهه‬
of the public and law enforcement authorities is offered by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

TheUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) publication

Reporting on Corruption: A Resource Tool for Governments and
Journalists (2014) examines and elucidates good practices in the
journalism profession and in legislation promoting broader freedoms of .
opinion and expression that can support anti-corruption efforts In many
countries, the media confronts unethical people or practices and may
often be the catalyst for a criminal or other investigation. For instance, in
South Africa, news reports on large-scale corruption and clientelism at
the highest levels prompted the Office of the Public
Protector (an independent ombudsman) to investigate the allegations.
This investigation led to the 2014 Nkandla report and the 2016 State
Capture report which found unethical and illegal activity by the then
President Jacob Zuma, which contributed to his decision to resign in
February 2018. In Bulgaria, in 2019, a joint investigation by Radio Free
Europe and the NGO Anti-Corruption Fund revealed that many high-level
politicians and public officials had acquired luxury apartments at prices
far below the market rates. This investigation led to the resignation of
the then Justice Minister, three vice-ministers, several MPs as well as the
head of the Bulgarian Anti-Corruption Agency. These types of outcome
have been described by Stapenhurst (2000) as the "tangible effects" of
the media's fight against corruption, while the "intangible effects" of
media anti-corruption efforts include "enhanced political pluralism,
enlivened political debate and a heightened sense of accountability
. " among politicians, institutions and public bodies
Media reports on corruption have also taken centre stage at the global
level. A case that demonstrates the importance of journalists and the
media in detecting incidents of corruption is the Mossack Fonseca

Papers case (widely known as the Panama Papers case). In 2015, an

anonymous source leaked documents from the Panama-based firm
Mossack Fonseca to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The
newspaper investigated the documents with the help of the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and published
over 11.5 million documents containing information about secret trusts,
financial transactions with tax havens, and more than 200,000 offshore
entities (the online database Offshoreleaks, created by ICIJ, provides
open access to all papers leaked from Mossack Fonseca). The release of
these documents has led to lawsuits in numerous countries around the
world. Over USD 1.2 billion have been recovered in countries including
Iceland, Uruguay, Mexico, New Zealand, Belgium and the United
Kingdom. See the list of countries that have launched investigations as a
result of the Mossack Fonseca Papers and how much money they have
recovered here. For further information also consider this interactive
overview by the ICIJ on the impact that the exposure of the papers had
. on corruption around the world
Stapenhurst (2000) distinguishes tangible (direct) and intangible
(indirect) ways in which the media assists in detecting corruption.
Examples of tangible effects of exposing corruption in the media include:
fuelling public outrage at corruption in government, forcing the
impeachment and resignation of a corrupt official, prompting formal
investigations into corruption, and spurring citizen pressure for the
reform of corrupt States. An example of an intangible effect of the
media on corruption is raising public awareness about weak economic
competition, and the fact that more competition could increase
accountability and create incentives for public officials to investigate
. corruption (Stapenhurst, 2000)
The extent to which journalists can assist in detecting corruption depends
on whether the media is free and independent. For media reporting and
journalism to play an effective role in corruption detection, the media has
to be free and independent. Freedom of information (FOI) laws are
important in determining the role of the media in detecting corruption.
Further, there must be legislative frameworks in place to protect
journalists and their sources from unfounded lawsuits, recrimination and
victimization (OECD, 2018). On the extreme end of the scale, whistle -
blowers and journalists have been killed for their role in exposing
corruption (see here and here). UNODC has developed the following
resource tool for reporting on corruption for journalists and
governments. For a broad discussion of ethics, integrity and the media,
 see Module 10 of the E4J University Module Series on Integrity and
.Ethics
Despite the importance and utility of the media in the fight against
corruption, media ownership may undermine anti-corruption efforts,
especially where politicians, business leaders or corrupt elites unduly
influence the media. In such cases, media reporting may be biased and
used to manipulate citizens (Freille, Harque, and Kneller, 2007).
Investigative journalists have reported intimidation, attempts to
undermine their professional credibility and political represions.
Moreover, journalists often receive death threats and some have been
killed because of their investigations on corruption (OECD, 2018).
According to a report of the Committee to Protect Journalists, 34
journalists were murdered in 2018 alone. Freelance journalists are more
exposed to violence than other journalists, probably because they lack
adequate institutional protection (OECD, 2018) and are also more likely
to take higher risk jobs. Moreover, private media owners or the State
. may heavily interfere with freedom of expression
Social media is considered more widely accessible, and more resistant to
top-down control compared to traditional media. Social media fights
corruption by providing information in the form of analysis, commentary
and advocacy and through investigations and crowdsourcing. Social
media provides an outlet for so-called "citizen journalism" as there are
several social media platforms where citizens can provide information on
corruption, which is then investigated by government authorities or
journalists. Social media may also mobilize public opinion in a way that
increases citizen engagement with particular issues (Robertson, 2018),
and, on reaching a certain level, this can lead to uprisings and changes in
government, as has occurred in several countries such as Tunisia, Egypt
and Armenia through activism on Twitter (Enikolopov, Petrova, and
Sonin, 2018). Notwithstanding the positive effect that social media can
have in engaging citizens in the fight against corruption, it should be
taken into consideration that the contemporary mass media platforms
are vulnerable to abuse, which can lead to the sustained spread of
disinformation among citizens. In particular, the growing prevalence of
false information spread via social media - known as "fake news" – has
become a major threat to public trust in both mainstream and
independent media outlets. Fake news not only disseminates incorrect
information, but is also often used with malicious intent, for example to
discredit political adversaries by casting doubt on their integrity through
weaponized reports alleging corrupt conduct, or to discredit journalists
who report cases of corruption accurately (Kossow, 2018). Countering
such abuses requires the coordinated efforts of the whole society, which
again brings to mind the collective action problems mentioned earlier.
For additional discussion on citizen journalism and social media
platforms see Module 10 of the E4J University Module Series on Integrity
.and Ethics
Impacts of corruption
.Corruption hurts everyone
The impact of corruption goes beyond the corrupt individuals, the
innocent colleagues who are implicated, or the reputation of the
organisations they work for. Ultimately, Victorians are the ones who
lose
.out
Corruption erodes the trust we have in the public sector to act in our best
interests. It also wastes our taxes or rates that have been earmarked for
important community projects – meaning we have to put up with poor
. quality services or infrastructure, or we miss out
altogether Organisational impacts of corruption financial
loss damage to employee morale damage to organisation's
reputation
organisational focus and resources diverted away from delivering core
business and services to the community
.increased scrutiny, oversight and
regulation Individual impacts of corruption
disciplinary action
termination of employment
criminal charges
.may affect relationships with family, friends and
colleagues Community impacts of corruption wasted
taxpayer funds loss of goods and services
lower community confidence in public authorities
.disadvantage to honest business that miss out on government contracts
In a nutshell, corruption increases inequality, decreases popular
accountability and political responsiveness, and thus produces rising
frustration and hardship among citizens, who are then more likely to
accept (or even demand) hard-handed and illiberal tactics
●/http://www.corruptie.org

●/https://www.transparency.org

●/https://www.cairn.info

●https://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html

●https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/anti-corruption/module-10/key
issues/the-role-of-the-media-in-fighting-corruption.html

●https://www.ibac.vic.gov.au/preventing-corruption/corruption
hurts-everyone

●https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/anti-corruption/module-1/
keyissues/effects-of-
corruption.html#:~:text=In%20a%20nutshell%2C%20corruption%20incr
eases,hard%2Dhanded%20and%20illiberal%20tactics