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Prishtina, 01 September 2004 – The Prime Minister’s Advisory Office for Good Governing with its partners from UNDP and the civil society launched yesterday an open campaign against corruption. In this occasion the Office for Good Governing aims to reinforce the role of civil servants and citizens in the fight against corruption. During the launching of the campaign, “The Fight against Corruption” report, sponsored by the Provisional Institutions for Self Government (PISG) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), was also presented.
Habit Hajredini, Director of the Office for Good Governing, held a speech titled “The Fight Against Corruption in Kosova: A study on the perceptions of the citizens of Kosova in support to the strategy for fighting corruption in Kosova”. Meanwhile, Richard Ponzio, Manager of the Team for Democratic Governing, UNDP in Kosova, commented on the support of UNDP for the report and the campaign, and providing examples of fighting corruption from countries in transition. Igballe Rugova, Executive Director of the Network of the Women of Kosova, on behalf of the civil society presented parts of the campaign against corruption.
This campaign will be implemented by a working group which will be directed by the Prime Minister’s Advisory Office for Good Governing, and co-directed by a civil society member. So far, the working group has had a few meetings which showed good cooperation actors on fighting corruption in Kosova, including leaders from the institutions and the civil society. This working group is in the process of creating a wide coalition for support to the efforts for the implementation of the Kosovar Strategy for Fighting Corruption. This working group will soon be divided into sub groups which will design activities in the campaign for advocacy, and education in the municipality level. The activities include debates about corruption by candidates for the October elections, and forums in the municipalities.
The report “The fighting of Corruption in Kosova”, presented today, examines the results of the survey conducted by Index Kosova/BBSS Gallup International, with 1,136 Kosovars surveyed on their perceptions on the corruption of different public institutions. The report evaluates the understanding of corruption in public institutions and the reasons, tolerance towards corruption, perceived and reported corruption in public institutions, perceived and reported corruption in central governmental institutions, and its legitimacy. The report also presents the perception on who should be held responsible for the corruption in Kosova and who should lead the fight against corruption in Kosova. Based on the results of the survey and on the experience of the countries of the Balkans, the report presents a span of recommendations in the fields of preventing corruption, executing law, public awareness, and the addressing of the main reasons. The creation of a coalition against corruption and the development of a campaign against corruption, are the two main recommendations made in this report.
ECIKS