The Director General of AMAN, Dr. Azmi Shuaibi, welcomed the numerous participants and explained the future tasks of the coalition in its fight against corruption. He also pointed out the out-standing role of the Palestinian civil society which has now been even further strengthened by the founding of the coalition “NGOs against Corruption”.

Thomas Birringer, Resident Representative of the KAS in the Palestinian Autonomous Territories, emphasized in his speech that the main initiative in the united fight against corruption should be initiated mainly by the Palestinian NGOs. He was glad about the the interest of such a huge number of NGOs to participate in the coalition “NGOs against corruption”.

The coalition consists of 92 local NGOs and has been founded in the frame of the Nazaha-project. The goal of this project is to eradicate corruption within Palestinian NGOs in a first step and in a second step to enable them to take on an active role in the fight against corruption in general. This program will lead to more transparent and responsible public administration within the Palestinian Autonomous Territories.

In order to become a member of “NGOs against Corruption”, NGOs have to enforce the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability within their own structures and show a sincere desire to participate in the fight against corruption, in the private, public or NGO sector.

A code of conduct, agreed upon in the framework of the Nazaha-project, has been recently signed by 85 NGOs.