In his opening remarks, H.E. Mr Bénédict de Cerjat, Ambassador of the Swiss Mission to NATO, highlighted the necessity to promote integrity in the defence sector in all countries and especially new democracies. “This Arabic version of the Compendium will reach out NATO’s partners from Middle East and North Africa” stressed Ambassador de Cerjat. Ambassador Dirk Brengelmann, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, provided a key note address in which he highlighted the importance, especially in the current time of economic austerity, of building integrity, enhancing accountability and transparency as well as promoting good governance in the defence and security sector.
After the opening ceremony, a panel discussion composed of Dr Philipp Flury, Deputy Head of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), Professor Haykel Ben Mahfoudh, Senior Advisor at DCAF Tunis, Mr Ahmed Yassine Foukara, Director of Strategy and Studies at the Central Authority for Corruption Prevention in Morocco, and Mr Nicola de Santis, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Section in NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Policy Division. The discussion focused on NATO’s Building Integrity (BI) programme, how implementing best practices and good governance in the defence and security sector could be achieved through education and training, and how challenges such as culture, ethics and the notion of corruption in some countries could be overcome to create accountability, transparency in defence budgeting and civilian oversight of the Armed Forces. Mr de Santis also highlighted the unprecedented changes witnessed in the Mediterranean and the Middle East region and that NATO supported the legitimate aspirations of the people of the region for democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law – values which underpin the Alliance. As NATO stated at its Chicago Summit, the Alliance stands ready to provide support to its partners in the region in the area of security institutions building, if countries so wish, based on the principle of a two-way engagement, and the BI initiative could be one element of this.
A reception offered by the Swiss Mission concluded the ceremony.
The translation into Arabic of the Compendium has been conducted and sponsored by DCAF Geneva and its regional office of Tunisia. This Compendium of Best Practices exists also in English, Russian and Ukrainian translations.
The launching ceremony of the Compendium of Best Practices. Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in Defence into Arabic took place in the margins of the first NATO Building Integrity (BI) – Allied Command Transformation (ACT) three day workshop aimed at further implementing the NATO BI Education and Training Plan for NATO-led operations.
After the ceremony, the panelists, Ambassador de Cerjat and Ambassador Brengelmann participated in an interview for the NATO website (link) to further address the Building Integrity programme and the need to implement education and training activities for military and civilians to embed good governance in the defense and security institutions.
