June 2015

5 June 2015 – Senegal will host a new regional training center for legal officials and experts, it was announced today at a summit of Justice Ministers from West and North Africa.

The Conference was jointly organized by the Government of the Republic of Senegal, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the State of Qatar, which announced the creation of the center and committed to funding it.

The center will train lawmakers, government officials and legal experts on how to create more effective policies and practical measures to combat corruption, while building fair, transparent and effective justice systems.

Representatives at the conference said they would increase their regional collaboration with a view to building more robust legal institutions; increasing access to justice for vulnerable groups, including women and girls; establishing better tax collection and simpler and more transparent budgets; and decentralizing efforts to combat corruption.

African nations must “create the space for extensive consultations with civil society and pursue regional and global partnerships to develop and promote joint initiatives to strengthen the rule of law”, said Sidiki Kaba, the Justice Minister of Senegal.

Each year, Africa loses up to USD 60 billion from fraud and tax evasion, limiting funding for critical investments in new economic sectors, infrastructure and social services. Corruption has been able to thrive amid insufficient oversight, capable mechanisms for enforcement and cross-border coordination.

“Corruption is effectively a hold-up on development financing. It undermines the foundations of the rule of law, fuels organized crime, terrorism and conflict, and compromises peace and security,” said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, the Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa.

A recent report by the High Level Panel on the post-2015 agenda said the rule of law is critical to maintaining peace and stability, upholding human rights, protecting civil liberties, and ensuring sustainable development. Many African countries have signed international and regional conventions on the rule of law. However, their implementation faces significant challenges, such as exclusion, nepotism, conflict and transnational crime.

For more information, please contact :
UNDP Senegal :

Ngone Sow, Communications Officer, ngone.sow@undp.org Tel : 221-775699605

Nicolas Douillet, Communications Specialist Nicolas.Douillet@undp.org, T. +1 (212) 906-5937 (New York)

@PNUDSenegal and Hashtags #goodgovernance #ruleoflaw

Read more

2 June 2015 – The Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Rule of of Law and the Fight Against Corruption in Africa was initiated in Dakar, Senegal. Over fifteen Justice Ministers from West Africa are meeting from 2 to 4 June 2015, where they will reaffirm their willingness to strengthen the rule of law, fight against corruption, and to promote access to justice for all. The recent report of the High Level Group on Post-2015 UN Development Agenda underlines the centrality of good governance and the rule of law as promoters of sustainable development. Many African countries are signatories to international and regional conventions on the matter. However, their implementation faces significant challenges, including the exclusion, conflict and transnational crime.

The three-day conference will be divided between plenary sessions and panels. Participants include His Excellency Mr. Macky Sall, the President of the Republic of Senegal, Ali Fetais bin Al-Marri, the Attorney General of Qatar, and Abdoulaye March Dieye, the Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, alongside more than 15 African Ministers of Justice, heads of international institutions, UNDP experts, organisations and representatives of civil society and NGOs.

With UNDP support, the final document and recommendations will be compiled into a single report that will be shared with both participants and the press. 

For more information, click here.

Read more

The National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) is expected to become operational until mid-July this year – so noted the Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko at an open meeting with national and international stakeholders engaged in assisting NAPC establishment. It is envisaged that mid-July will see selection of five members of the collegiate NAPC, and by that time some concrete tools that the NAPC will be working with will be developed, including the launch of the electronic assets declarations system.

UNDP as a regional leader in corruption prevention has committed itself to assisting the Ministry with developing the necessary guidelines and regulations to make this new e-system workable, as even with the most advanced tools, there would be need for qualified expert reviewers of declarations and analysis practices to spot irregularities. In order to facilitate the NAPC operationalization, UNDP is reviewing European practices of preventive anticorruption bodies to come by with best practice summary regarding set-up and architecture of the future NAPC Secretariat. Works are under way to supplant NAPC with a ready-to-go package of institution-building documents (statutes, regulations, rules of procedure) in order to progress fast and save the valuable time for essential work of corruption prevention.

For more information, click here.

Read more