International Anti-Corruption Day
On 9 December, we celebrate the International Anti-Corruption Day, established by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 58/4 of 31 October 2003 to commemorate the ratification by the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
The establishment of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau on 9 June 2006 was the implementation of the provisions of Article 6 of the Convention, stating that: “Each State Party shall, in accordance with the fundamental principles of its legal system, ensure the existence of a body or bodies, as appropriate, that prevent corruption by such means as:
(a) Implementing the policies referred to in article 5 of this Convention and, where appropriate, overseeing and coordinating the implementation of those policies;
b) Increasing and disseminating knowledge about the prevention of corruption.”
In pursuit of its mission of preventing corruption, the CBA conducts preventive and educational activities, among other things, the Bureau runs an informational and educational website antykorupcja.gov.pl and issues publications (over 60 to date) on corruption and methods of fighting it. The above are available in the form of e-books on the website of the Bureau. The CBA officers conduct anti-corruption courses, e.g. for public administration employees, in which since 2010, over 62,000 people have participated in the in-person mode. In recent years, the CBA has also organized two editions of an art competition addressed to pupils of primary schools from selected communes in the country, entitled “What does it take to be honest?” The purpose of the competition was to introduce the pupils to the world of values and to make children reflect on various manifestations of honesty, which is to foster the development of proper moral and ethical attitudes and prepare them to consciously make the right choices.
In 2014, the Bureau launched a freely accessible e-learning platform with online anti-corruption training, where to date, the users have completed over 340,000 courses. The upgraded platform is a continuation of a project implemented in the years 2013-2015 and supported by a grant from the European Commission. Three training modules have been made available on the platform (szkolenia-antykorupcyjne.edu.pl): Corruption in public administration, Corruption in business, Counteracting corruption, in two language versions, Polish and English. It is one of the few applications of its kind in Europe. It was presented at the 66th Plenary Meeting of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), as well as on the forum of the European Commission and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) seminar. It became a model for the platform created by the National Anti-Corruption Unit of Slovakia (NAKA) and the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania (STT). Additionally, it was included in the list of good practices to be promoted in the European Union within the framework of the research project of the European Commission's Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policies titled "Capacity building to identify and prevent fraud and corruption in the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI)."
The CBA developed the assumptions of the latest Government Anti-Corruption Programme for 2018-2020, which has already been completed. The Head of the CBA presided, in the role of Chairman, over the works of the Interdepartmental Team for Coordination and Monitoring of the Programme's Implementation, and the Bureau executed a number of activities resulting from the Programme. Exactly one year ago, on 9 December 2020, the CBA published a report developed under the Programme titled “Anti-Corruption Guidelines for Public Administration on Uniform Institutional Solutions and Rules of Conduct for Public Servants and Individuals Belonging to the PTEF Group”. This report, providing a basis for creating an effective, comprehensive anti-corruption policy in almost every institution, points out that an organization's resilience to corruption risks depends not only on appropriate regulations and organizational solutions but, above all, on the right human attitudes, which can and should be shaped.
Today, we present a new publication titled "The ABC of Control". The CBA is the only special service having instruments in the form of control over asset declarations and economic decisions. The Bureau carries out about 160 controls every year. The publication refers, among others, to the following issues: who and what is controlled by the CBA, on what grounds the control is conducted, how long the control activities may take, what the control result may be. Enjoy your reading.
Public Relations Division of the CBA
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Fot. © nialowwa/ Photogenica
