Wednesday 28 July 2010

FD participant attends The World Bank Global Youth Summit on Anti-Corruption in Brussels.



Background of GYAC engagement’s with Anti Corruption

On May 26th 2010 50 young people from across the globe convened in Brussels for an Anti corruption Convention. The three day convention saw the birth of Global Youth Against Corruption network.(GYAC). The group which comprised of civil society leaders, musicians and journalist sought to launch a fascinating anti corruption campaign initiative.
Throughout the convention the 50 young people without hesitation and doubts agreed on a number of things: ……..
Corruption is a complex social, political and economical phenomenon that affects all countries. How to define corruption is a bedeviling question since essentially there is no single comprehensive and universal accepted definition and secondly it’s difficult to get a definition that is devoid of the moral or normative judgment of the observer.
Corruption imposes substantial and widespread societal costs, impending economic development, limiting the Efficiency of public services and weakening political institutions by undermining trust in the government. Corruption has further ramifications, when corrupts leaders waste aid money, siphon national resources and build up foreign debt development is hindered and common people are deprived of basic services and any economic strategy geared to lifting them from the yokes of poverty lives them in an even worse state.
Far from being a Victimless crime corruption infringes the fundamental human right to fair treatment. All persons are entitled to be treated equally and when one person bribes a public official he acquires a privileges status in relation to others that person denies the others the right to equal treatment. Furthermore Corruption leads to infringement of civil and political Rights this happens when electoral process is interfered with and when leaders are perceived as being corrupt become afraid to involve the people in decision making process thus denying them space to participate in governance.
They also agreed that cannot be tackled in isolation from other issues and this lead to the formation of five thematic scopes:

Thematic Scope and FOCUS of GYAC
Fighting Corruption in Resource-Rich Countries
Promoting Youth Participation in Governance
Monitoring Elections and Protecting Human Rights
Building Ethics and Integrity of the Next Generation
Fighting Corruption in Service Deliveries

And since corruption is a joint problem for the developed and developing counties the Geographical focus of GYAC covers 6 regions:
The Geographical Scope and Focus of GYAC
• Africa
• East Asia
• Asia Pacific
• Middle East
• Latin America
• Europe

Output and outcomes expected from GYAC
• Increased networking and collaboration with other youth groups championing a similar cause
• Extensive use of ICT in anti Corruption campaign
• Coordination of Anti corruption initiative in the 6 geographical areas
• Employment of culture in ant Corruption campaigns