Opinion

The United Nations and accreditation of the Saudi Anti-Corruption School

December 22, 2021
The United Nations and accreditation of the Saudi Anti-Corruption School

Abdullatif Al-Dhuwaihi



It is not possible to diagnose and treat poverty in any society without diagnosing and treating corruption that is rampant in it. Any treatment of poverty without the treatment of corruption is just like treatment of a disease that has not been properly diagnosed. Hence, we can say corruption is the direct and indirect incubator of poverty.

If the bottom of the society is eroded and its structure is disintegrated from below as well as from its right and left sides, apart from aggravating its communal diseases, then we can see that poverty is not the sole cause. In another sense, poverty is not a cause but the result. This is because poverty is a disease whose symptoms are easy to diagnose. The onus is often blamed on poverty instead of corruption, which is the real villain, owing to the difficulty of identifying its networks, means and tools. Corruption simply hides behind dozens of rolls, faces and titles.

If justice deteriorates in a society, corruption prevails there. Therefore, it is essential to strike the strongholds of corruption before rectifying regulations and enacting legislation as well as before correcting the economy and social conditions. If ignorance and illiteracy spread in the society, it also leads to spreading corruption. So it is essential to destroy the nests of corruption and its cults, before taking steps to reform education and educational institutions in the society.

In such a scenario, we can comprehend the preemptive blows that the leadership of this country dealt early on corruption, and that was in conjunction with the launch of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. In fact, we cannot imagine the possibility of launching and implementing a giant vision of the size, significance and depth as that of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, during a specific period, without accompanying, synchronizing and accommodating this Vision with demolishing and dismantling the structures of corruption, undermining its tools, and cleansing society and its institutions from its scourge.

Had it not been there the insight and far-sightedness, as well as the decisive determination and prudent management, all reforms and efforts aimed at achieving the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 would have faltered and broken after hitting on the rock of corruption.

However, the Kingdom’s efforts in combating corruption not only remained at home, but the Kingdom provided an amount of $10 million in order to establish the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities (GlobE Network) initiative so as to realize the importance of overcoming cross-border challenges of corruption, with enhancing cross border cooperation among countries to end corruption.

From here, we can understand the culmination of the Kingdom’s efforts through the adoption of a UN draft resolution and the adoption of the GlobE Network, which is based on the Kingdom’s Vision and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. This is one of the most successful outcomes of the Kingdom’s continuous and tireless efforts to combat corruption.

The Kingdom’s delegation succeeded in its negotiations with all the countries participating in the meetings of the ninth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, by adopting the GlobE Network initiative. The UN resolution affirmed the Kingdom’s vital and effective leadership in the fight against corruption. This raises the Kingdom’s stake in global contributions in terms of myriad initiatives in all wide ranging areas.


December 22, 2021
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