Amir’s ‘Anti-Corruption Excellence Award' ceremony held in Tunisia

The award was established in 2015 to recognise the efforts of those who have contributed in the global fight against corruption.

The fifth edition of the ‘Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award’ ceremony took place in Tunisia on Wednesday.

In cooperation with the United Nations [UN], the event was attended by several senior officials representing the global agency, as well as members of the Supreme Committee of the Award and the Advisory Board.

Tunisia’s President Kais Saied gave the opening remarks at the event, urging the need to pay close attention to corruption across the world.

أهنئ الفائزين بجائزة التميز في مكافحة الفساد لهذا الموسم الذي يأتي فيما يعيش العالم ظرفا استثنائيا بسبب جائحة كوفيد-19، متمنيا أن تتواصل جهود مجتمعنا الدولي لترسيخ قيم النزاهة وحكم القانون. كما أشكر الأشقاء في تونس على استضافة حفل الجائزة.

— تميم بن حمد (@TamimBinHamad) December 9, 2020

“Corruption has not only prevailed in many countries, but the network of corruption is linked to each other in many parts of the world,” said Saied in his opening statement.

The winners were: Perdana Leadership Foundation (Malaysia) in the Lifetime or Outstanding Achievement category, Dr. Adam Graycar (Australia) and Dr. Michael Levi (United Kingdom) in the Academic Research and Education category, ONG Tolotsoa (Madagascar) and the Center for the Study of Democracy (Bulgaria) in the category of Youth Creativity and Engagement, and Mr. Riad Kobaissi (Lebanon) and Instituto Observatório Político e Socioambiental (Brazil) in the category of Innovation.

Winners were honoured on behalf of Sheikh Tamim by Dr Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri, Qatar’s Attorney General of Qatar and UN Special Advocate on the Prevention of Corruption.

“Corruption drains scarce resources from government budgets, subverts the outcome of judicial processes and feeds criminal and extremists networks,” said Alexandre Zouev, the UN’s Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions, Department of Peace Operations, in his opening remarks.

The UN official added that the current pandemic has particularly triggered the rise in corruption in many countries where a lack of resources was reported.

“The fight against corruption is even more important during the current COVID-19 emergency, as the members of society compete over access to PPE, healthcare and vaccine,” said Zouev.

Last year, the Amir’s anti-corruption award was held in Rwanda, where seven winners from around the world received the prestigious prize.

The 2019 winners were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, Zambia, Albania, and Cyprus.

Established in 2015 at the eighth Conference of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities in Russia, the award exhibits Qatar’s commitment to fight misconduct.

The award was created to recognise those who have contributed to global campaigns in the fight against corruption.

Follow Doha News on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube