Minister of Justice presents in Abu Dhabi the Armenian vision for the “new generation” anti-corruption strategy'

During the panel discussion of the 8^th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption being held in Abu Dhabi, Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan touched upon the “new generation”
anti-corruption strategy. Stating that corruption has become one of the biggest challenges for not only the global economy and rule of law, but also for peace and security, the Minister considered the implementation of a comprehensive and effective strategy for the fight against corruption at the national level and the combination of efforts at the regional and global levels as an important issue.

Talking about the Anti-Corruption Strategy approved by the Government in October, Rustam Badasyan noted that the “new generation” anti-corruption strategies are no longer viewed as just the strategies of the Government; they are the strategies of the people. In this context, the Minister presented the inclusive activities of the
Anti-Corruption Strategy of Armenia developed over a year-and-a-half ago —
500 proposals from civil society, based on which the initial draft was amended by 85%, organising of at least 15 public discussions, including in all marzes (provinces), organising of two discussions held by the Anti-Corruption Policy Council, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, etc. Rustam Badasyan also attached importance to the financial assessment and definition of target indicators for development of the mentioned Strategy, emphasising that the aim of the Government is to raise the assessment of Armenia from 35 to 55 in the report of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International.

Touching upon anti-corruption institutional reforms, Minister Badasyan presented the functions of the already formed Commission for the Prevention of Corruption and attached importance to the role of the to-be-established Anti-Corruption Committee and Anti-Corruption Court, to the development and implementation of anti-corruption education programmes, to the introduction of a system of whistle-blowing for corruption crimes and of civil-legal mechanisms for non-conviction-based asset forfeiture during the implementation of activities being carried out for the fight against corruption.

Summing up his speech, Rustam Badasyan emphasised that, even with the best institutional systems and the strongest mechanisms, countries will never succeed without changing the mindset of people and forming zero tolerance to corruption.