5 December 2010 - Senior Government officials from Herat have sought the unequivocal support of the people and civil society in the fight against corruption.

Speaking at a two-day forum organized by Herat’s Provincial Council on streamlining anti-corruption efforts, the Director-General of the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption in Afghanistan, Mohammed Yasin Osmani, said civil society, the Provincial Council and the public sector could play a critical role in anti-corruption efforts.

The participants, mainly Provincial Council members, civil society leaders and politicians, suggested the establishment of a public monitoring mechanism to reduce corruption.

Meanwhile, Osmani said the Government has been working to revise anti-corruption laws so they conform to the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, of which Afghanistan is a signatory.

The Governor of Herat province, Dawod Saba, added corruption is a threatening evil “that has challenged the democratic values.”

The governor said some preventive measures should be put in place to “identify roots and the provision of awareness programmes, seeking the people’s supports to raise corruption cases in the public.”

Afghanistan ranked third from the bottom in the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International in 2010, only beating Somalia and Myanmar. The Government of Afghanistan set up the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption in 2008 following widespread criticism to control corruption. The new body has the authority to investigate high-ranking Government officials.

The two-day programme was organized with the support of UNAMA and other UN agencies.

By Fraidoon Poya, UNAMA