Director-General/Executive Director
Your Excellency Mr. Mazin Al-Kahmous,
President of Nazaha,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honour to address you today on the topic of measuring corruption, which is an important topic for many countries and an important endeavour in global efforts against corruption.
Let me be candid. Measuring corruption is not an easy task, at state level and at organizational level.
It is technically complicated and requires capacities, financial resources, and stakeholder engagement.
And it is often politicized, and needs to be approached with great caution.
To measure corruption with credibility and transparency, efforts must adhere to principles of impartiality, professionalism, quality, and confidentiality, and in many cases is not available or accessible.
And they must align with the international standards and norms set by the UN Convention against Corruption and other relevant instruments, and I am glad Francine specifically mentioned UNCAC compliance in her intervention.
Initiatives should also complement and be in harmony with existing efforts, such as the UNCAC Implementation Review Mechanism.
Existing indices for measurement provide a partial picture, potentially measuring the perspectives of only some stakeholders, and only some aspects of a complex phenomenon, and I was glad that Professor Liz Barret has recognized this in her presentation.
UNODC therefore seeks to underline the importance of transparency and solid scientific methods in all efforts to measure corruption.
With this in mind, UNODC congratulates Saudi Arabia and our sister agency UNDP for taking the lead on an initiative related to corruption measurement.
Our Office is also working to advance corruption measurement, and we have developed a framework for this purpose at the request of Parties to the UNCAC.
We are committed to working with all partners and stakeholders to build to enrich the global knowledge base and thereby strengthen responses to corruption.
I would like to thank Saudi Arabia for initiating the first global conference on corruption measurement, which we hosted in Vienna this past August.
It brought together stakeholders from around the globe to discuss good practices and challenges in measuring corruption, as well as existing initiatives and future ideas on the topic.
The conference served as a useful and needed platform for dialogue, and it resulted in the Vienna Principles towards a Global Framework for the Measurement of Corruption, and Professor Barret covered those in detail in her presentation.
The Principles are prominently featured in the draft resolution on corruption measurement which Saudi Arabia has tabled at this Conference.
I also encourage Saudi Arabia, and all of our partners, to continue the dialogue between countries and with international organizations, as well as with civil society and academia, to include all voices as we strive to improve corruption measurement.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I hereby close this meeting and thank the distinguished speakers for their contributions.