Fight against Corruption
Towards a future reform strategy to fight corruption in Lebanon
Corruption in Lebanon frustrates the Lebanese: Political affiliation is more important than qualifications and competencies. The workshop, which was conducted in cooperation with the Centre International des Sciences de l'Homme - CISH from September 15 - 16, 2018 in Byblos, has shed light on malpractice of the politic system in Lebanon in which the corruption is one of the most urgent issues. The fight against corruption has various virtues, including the provision of equal opportunities for all citizens, as well as opportunities for promoting economic development and improving economic performance.
Through lectures, the participants were enabled to identify the main problems experienced by the system, in order to find appropriate solutions and to develop a common vision to preserve the unity of Lebanon. Several questions were raised during the workshop such as 'What are the effective ways and means to prevent corruption?', 'How can we enter the required reforms so that people can have a decent level of living?', 'How can civil society be mobilized to put pressure on the government to carry out an effective reform?' 'How can we encouraged the young people to participate in the future election in order to create new political leaderships?'.
Lebanon does not appear to currently have the leaders or political parties that are capable of envisioning and leading such major reform. But it is important to present ideas that could be part of a national discussion and could generate movement toward positive change. The Workshop enabled the participants to identify places of corruption in the current Lebanese system and to analyse and evaluate them. They are encouraged to engage in dialogue about the best ways to reform the regime and to ask questions about what they can do to get out of this serious crises.
The participants developed recommendations to combat corruption in cooperation with national experts in this field in order to enhance the role of the civil society in raising awareness on citizens' rights and promoting transparency, good governance and accountability. The recommendations were set up to be submitted to the government and the office of republic Precedence for adoption.