The Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption (ARPAC) - the Arab Chapter of GOPAC-was established in Beirut in November 2004 during a meeting entitled Parliamentarians against Corruption: Improving Transparency and Accountability in the Arab Region. This meeting was attended by 40 Parliamentarians representing 11 Parliaments: Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Palestine, Kuwait, Morocco, Yemen and Lebanon. The meeting was organized in partnership with UNDP-Program on Governance in the Arab Region, Transparency International, Lebanese Transparency Association and the British Embassy in Beirut
Objectives:
ARPAC’s main objectives consist of encouraging founding members to establish national chapters, persuading national chapters to build coalitions with the media, civil society movements and academics, and calling on the Arab governments to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). In addition, ARPAC arranges for national and regional workshops to promote methods for fighting corruption and to build the capacity of members of Arab parliaments to be better equipped to fight corruption and to promote transparency and accountability in the Arab region.
Current Projects:
- ARPAC will be leading a regional and global taskforce on political ethics and conflict of interest for parliamentarians and public officials at large;
- ARPAC will be leading a regional and global taskforce on UNCAC and will conduct gap analysis and will lobby for the ratification of UNCAC;
- ARPAC will be conducting projects which will focus on improving the capacityof Arab parliamentarians on budget analysis mainly on revenues.
Arab Parliamentary Bulletin
Issue 6: [English] [Arabic]
Issue 3: [English] [Arabic]
Issue 5: [English] [Arabic]
Issue 2: [English] [Arabic]
Issue 4: [English] [Arabic]
Issue 1: [English] [Arabic]
Page 16 of the fourth issue draws attention to and provides a link to the Arabic version of the 'Arab Parliamentarians Toolkit to Promote the United Nations Convention against Corruption'.
The second issue covers an interesting period in the Arab region. During the second quarter of 2009, parliamentary elections were held both in Kuwait and Lebanon and went relatively well despite the fears and concerns resulting from the political crises in both countries.
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Governance News and Notes:
Governance Newsmaker Interview with Dr. Naser J. Al Sane
GOPAC and its anticorruption initiatives have been highlighted in a recent issue of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Governance News and Notes. Dr. Naser Al-Sane, chair of the Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption (ARPAC) is featured in a interview with Rami G. Khouri. An additional feature of this issue is GOPAC’s Parliamentary Ethics global task force, and in particular the work of Ghassan Moukheiber (MP Lebanon). As chair of this task force Mr. Moukheiber’s main goal has been to “develop a Guidebook on Systems of Parliamentary Ethics, which can then be disseminated to and reapplied in various countries”. Click here to view the complete Newsletter.
Tackling politicians is key to anti-corruption efforts
Governance Newsmaker Interview with
Dr. Naser Al-Sane
KUWAIT: When it was established in November 2004, the Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption (ARPAC) charted new ground in the Arab world, where elected officials fighting corruption were a novel and unproven enterprise. Today, the founding chairman of the group, Kuwaiti MP Naser Al-Sane, describes their approach and activities in a manner that could be summarized as “shame and train”. More...
EITI Global Conference: The Role of Legislators in the EITI Process
February 18th, Doha, Qatar
Comments from GOPAC Chair Dr. Naser Al Sane
ARPAC Annual Conference To Be Held In Bahrain
After the success of the first Annual Conference which was held in Rabat, Morocco (May, 2006), ARPAC’s forthcoming Annual Conference will be held in Bahrain in November 2007 hosted by the Bahraini Chapter of ARPAC. The focus of the conference is the gap analysis studies for Lebanon and Kuwait and the role of Parliamentarians in the ratification of the UNCAC. This conference will be an opportunity to launch ARPAC’s new regional initiative on Resource Revenue Transparency. For more information please contact Dr. Khalil Gebara at Kgebara@arpacnetwork.org
National Chapter in Algeria was launched
A group of serving and former parliamentarians have set up in early December 2006 the Algerian branch of ARPAC. During the launch ceremony in early September, the founders declared the mission and makeup of the new entity, which is headed by Mr. Mahi Bahi Ammar
For more information please contact Khalil Gebara at khalil@arpacnetwork.org
From June 2005 until May 2007 several ARPAC national chapters were launched and operated on the local level, coordinating activities with the Secretariat. These National Chapters are: Palestine, Yemen, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon.
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ARPAC Secretariat
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Mr. Ghassan Moukheiber Executive Director: |
Arab Region Parliamentarians Against Corruption Sami El Solh Avenue, Kalot Center, 9th floor P.O. Box 50-552, Lebanon Tel/Fax: +961-1-388113/4/5 Email: info@arpacnetwork.orgWebsite: www.arpacnetwork.org |