Asia20 September, 20263 min read
Doha Hosts Sixth Arab Anti-Corruption Convention Session With Morocco Among 22 States
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Doha hosts sixth session with 22 Arab states, including Morocco. Morocco participates with delegation led by head of integrity authority.
Doha anti-corruption talks
The sixth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Arab Convention against Corruption opened in Doha, the capital of Qatar, with the participation of 22 Arab states including Morocco. Maha Bakheet, head of the Legal Affairs Sector at the League of Arab States and head of the Conference’s Secretariat, said the draft decisions on the agenda address issues that would help activate the provisions of the Arab Convention against Corruption. The conference agenda included developing a mechanism to review the implementation of the Arab Convention against Corruption to track progress, document successful experiences and practices, and identify current challenges and the needs related to technical assistance.
The program also featured an experts’ meeting dedicated to creating a unified Arab guide on parallel financial investigations in corruption cases, and a project to enhance international cooperation by accelerating mutual legal assistance requests. The conference’s first day sessions were devoted to discussing the provisional items on the sixth session’s agenda in preparation for adopting the conference’s final communique known as the Doha Statement.
Unified guide and index
Said Shihadeh, Advisor to the Head of the Palestinian Anti-CacKation Authority, told Al Jazeera Net that many specialized and technical workshops had been held to develop the unified Arab guide, which would be adopted during the current session. Said Shihadeh said the guide would help facilitate the process of recovering stolen funds and fighting corruption, and it would concern parallel financial investigations to judicial investigations. Said Shihadeh also expressed reservations about the mechanism followed by the international organization to reach annual index results, noting that Arab and non-Arab countries had concerns about this index.
Said Shihadeh argued that the Global Corruption Index relied on a two-pronged mechanism, first perceptions and second reports unrelated to corruption such as economic and development reports. Bakr Al-Baqour, Director of Investigations at the Jordanian Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission, said the conference would discuss projects submitted by Arab countries, including a draft decision submitted by Qatar to enhance the review of the implementation of the convention.
From principles to results
Abdul Wahab Al-Kuwari, spokesperson for the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority in Qatar, said the session emphasized moving from general principles to practical implementation and measuring actual results.
The conference discussed the Doha Declaration on enhancing preventive measures against corruption, and the spokesperson said the declaration emphasized the importance of prevention as the first line of defense against this serious phenomenon.
The agenda included a regional experts’ meeting to draft a unified Arab guide for parallel financial investigations into corruption crimes and suspicious accounts, and it also included a project to strengthen international cooperation by expediting mutual legal assistance requests.
The conference also included a clause on enhancing transparency of beneficial ownership and identifying the real beneficiaries of companies and assets, paving the way for a specialized Arab guide in this vital area.
Hamad bin Nasser Al Misnad, chairing the conference, presided over the opening, while Dr. Maha Bakheet said the sixth session was convened pursuant to Resolution No. 7 adopted during the conference’s fifth session held from May 5 to 7, 2024.