National Integrity System Study: Lebanon 2009

The Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA) has launched at a release conference at the Monroe Hotel, its new study the “National Integrity System Study: Lebanon 2009”.

The publication consists of an evaluation of 17 Lebanese institutions, and an analysis of transparency, integrity, and accountability within these institutions. An overview of the publication was presented by Gerard Zovighian, Vice Chairman of LTA and Member of the project’s Steering Committee, Nicolas Seris, Program Coordinator at Transparency International-Secretariat, LTA’s Program Director Ms. Gaelle Kibranian, in addition to the Treasurer of LTA’s Board Membe, Yahya Hakim.

The National Integrity System (NIS) methodology was developed by Transparency International (TI). This study is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and constitutes a milestone in the framework of a regional project: Promoting Transparency and Enhancing Integrity in the Arab Region. This event will be followed by further publications such as conducting a gap analysis of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).

The study sheds light, for the first time in Lebanon, on the weaknesses of the system and the challenges it faces. Moreover, it highlights and promotes the available opportunities to fight corruption, and the need for a holistic review of the 17 pillars of the system. The study also demonstrates the need for cooperation between the different stakeholders and reviewed institutions. Agreeing on a national strategy to fight corruption should become a fixture that will pave the way towards achieving rule of law, sustainable development, and a better quality of life in Lebanon, which represent the main components and the basic elements for any national integrity system to be reached in Lebanon.

As a result, it is necessary to adopt a cohesive approach in order to reach a national integrity system that promotes cooperation between the different sectors and institutions and pushes towards the development of articulate institutions necessary to secure the rule of law and sustainable development.

The study shows through the different pillars that have been carefully reviewed, that the absence of transparency, accountability, and integrity is directly linked to the structure of the Lebanese system. Lebanon is a consociational democracy based on the principle of power sharing among the main religious communities as postulated in the Ta’if Agreement of 1989 and later in the 2008 Doha Agreement. This power-sharing formula has led to the rise of internal, regional, and international polarization as well as the continuous security incidents that the country has been facing since the end of the civil war.

The study provides an overview of the conditions of the executive, legislative, and judicial powers, as well as that of the political parties, the electoral management body, in the Lebanese Court of Account, the Civil Service Council, the law enforcement mechanism, the public contracting system, the Ombudsman, the central inspection, the civil service, the media, the civil society, the private sector, local governance, the international organizations, as well as the security apparatus.

As a result of the review of the causes of corruption in the different institutions, LTA identified a set of recommendations and priorities that cover the different sectors.

The study is the result of collective action by LTA’s working team comprising five researchers and authors, who have conducted extensive desk research and held interviews with representatives of the above-mentioned institutions, as well as field research to investigate the issues.

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