Sharm El-Sheikh, December 16 (BNA): The governments of Germany, Sweden and Nigeria jointly held an event on the sidelines of the ninth day, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Women’s Development Organization (WDO). The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) held in Sharm El-Sheikh – Egypt from 13 to 17 December.
The event was held under the theme “Shaping the Future – Embedding Gender in Our Anti-Corruption Efforts”, which is one of the topics currently under discussion in the conference.
In his welcome speech, Dr Jürgen Sattler, Director-General for International Development Policy, 2030 Agenda and Climate, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, stated that the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly against Corruption, held last June, established A global commitment to improving our understanding of the links between gender and corruption.
He added that corruption is a global phenomenon, but it affects men and women differently, with women affected more than men by corrupt practices.
More diversity in executive positions means less corruption.
During his presentation, as a keynote speaker at the event, Ihab Fawzy, Deputy Executive Director of WDO, highlighted WDO’s mandate and goals, and focused on WDO’s role within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) system as a hub. Gender Equality Structure in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
He touched on the components of the first program cycle of the World Development Organization, with its four pillars on promoting women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion, eliminating all forms of violence and harmful practices against women and girls, women’s leadership in promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, and the role of women in fighting and preventing corruption.
They have been carefully selected based on the needs of the member states and are connected online with the OIC Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women (OPAAW) and various OIC resolutions.
The Deputy Executive Director highlighted some of the challenges faced in the direction of gender mainstreaming in the fight against corruption, such as the lack of effective legal expertise and insufficient technical expertise to prepare the basis at the national level; Cultural and gender constraints not reflected in data collection, whether qualitative or quantitative; Dealing with corruption as a taboo topic, and the lack of fully gender-sensitive anti-corruption governmental policies.
Fawzi highlighted the importance of raising awareness and building capacity to mainstream gender in anti-corruption efforts and the importance of collective action, whether government or civil society, in order to succeed in combating corruption, without compromising governments as the main responsible actors.
Lilian Ikinianu, Head of the Technical Unit for Governance Reforms and Anti-Corruption (TUGAR), Nigeria, presented the results of an updated study from Nigeria on how women are affected by corruption.
She emphasized the importance of disaggregating data in mainstreaming a gender perspective in anti-corruption efforts.
Monica Bohr, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, presented evidence from European regions and beyond on the share of women in office and levels of corruption; She stated that corruption is also an obstacle to the employment of women; I discussed how to explain the filter feature; It concluded that the type of explanation is important for understanding the effects of recruiting more women into positions.
At the conclusion of the event, Jennifer Sarvari Bradford, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, presented the preliminary findings of their research into identifying gender entry points in the United Nations Convention against Corruption along with other initiatives such as the creation of a public database that includes all research contained in the The 18-page bibliography of The Time is Now (as a starting point).
She said that these initiatives also aim to move from rhetoric to action and consolidate inclusion and considerations on how to address the gender dimensions of corruption in the anti-corruption efforts of all UN member states, beyond those that are party to the UN Convention against Corruption.