2. The committee is composed of representatives of various civil society bodies, including Aman – The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (TI Palestine), private sector companies, Palestinian professional associations and the General Union of Palestinian Women. 3. A majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip believe that corruption exists in the PA, and 77 per cent believe that jobs in the PA are, to a large extent, obtainable through informal connections (Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, Ramallah, poll number 11, 14–17 March 2004). 4. Poll No. 3 (25–27 March 2004) conducted by PANORAMA (Palestinian Center for the Dissemination of Democracy and Community Development, Ramallah, 2004).
Panama Corruption Perceptions Index 2004 score: 3.7 (62nd out of 146 countries) Conventions: OAS Inter-American Convention against Corruption (ratified July 1998) UN Convention against Corruption (signed December 2003; not yet ratified) UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (ratified August 2004) Legal and institutional changes • A draft code of parliamentary ethics and honour was submitted to the legislative assembly in September 2003, setting out the behaviour expected of parliamentarians and their substitutes when faced with a conflict of interest situation, nepotism, attempted bribery and the abuse of office for personal gain.1 Several allegations of corruption involving legislators emerged in the period under review, but the bill had not been passed at the time of writing. • A draft law to reform the 1998 regulations governing the legislative assembly was submitted in September 2003. The bill aimed to improve the legislature’s public image at a time when the credibility of its members had been damaged by media reports about high levels of absenteeism and allegations that parliamentarians were abusing a right to import cars for personal use by selling them on to third parties. The proposed reforms include the introduction of salary cuts for failure to attend plenary and commission sessions, and the reduction of the right to import cars from three to one car per legislator, and two to one car per substitute. At this writing the bill had not been passed. • A draft law modifying secondary legislation that enforces a constitutional provision against administrative corruption was also introduced in September 2003. If passed, the law will compel high-ranking officials to declare the value of their assets before taking up office and upon leaving it. The reform would give the auditor general powers to ensure that a full asset declaration is made. It would also lower the burden of proof for complainants to file allegations of illegal enrichment; circumstantial evidence would be sufficient to convict, rather than summary evidence as at present. Civil society organisations are calling for asset declarations to be made public, for an annual audit of them to be kept by the auditor general, and for public notaries to facilitate investigations in case of a complaint. At this writing the bill had not been passed. • A draft law was submitted in September 2003 to modify a 2002 law on transparency in public administration. The reform would eliminate the requirement that anybody
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