GOPAC Global Task Force.

GOPAC Global Task Force—Parliamentary Ethics Project

By MP Ghassan Moukheiber--MP Lebanon, Chair of the Working Group

The issue of parliamentary ethics has, of late, taken center stage on an international level; parliaments all over the world are following in some pioneering countries’ footsteps, developing parliamentary codes of conduct of their own as part of a broader system of parliamentary and political ethics. The recent surge in interest surrounding this issue stems not only from the desire to find ways to deter or sanction specific cases of unethical behavior by parliamentarians, but also from the dire need to tackle low levels of trust in the government and the public’s suspicion of parliamentarians’ integrity, honesty and openness. Ethics systems for Parliamentarians are therefore currently being developed to both address the aforementioned issue of combating corruption and public perception of corruption in parliaments, and to act as guidelines for proper conduct and etiquette to which parliamentarians can adhere.

In light of this current concern, the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (“GOPAC”) has created a special task force on Parliamentary Ethics whose main goal is to develop a Guidebook on Systems of Parliamentary Ethics, which can then be disseminated to and reapplied in various countries. The task force is comprised of parliamentarians of several continents, expert consultants as well as representatives of international organizations. The project guidebook hopes to offer parliaments the direction they need to tailor-make a code of conduct which can be realistically adopted into their respective political and cultural contexts, but nevertheless adhere to basic international ethical standards.

The Guidebook is now being finalized following a number of meetings held by the taskforce. It is divided into four main sections: 1. Determining the purpose of the ethics systems, the problems it intends to solve, and outlining the political values and behaviors parliaments wish to propagate; 2. Establishing the building blocks of the ethics system i.e. setting up ethical and institutional principles, pinpointing detailed rules and restrictions governing behavior and establishing a regulatory framework for enforcing the rules, 3. Developing the content and the rules for the ethics system which includes highlighting criteria for issues of conflict of interest, ensuring transparency and detailing provisions of parliamentary immunity and finally, 4. Creating mechanisms for regulation and enforcement which can either come in the form of external regulation, internal regulation or semi-independent regulation.

The context in which the code is developed is also touched upon in the Guidebook; cultural nuances and legal systems (i.e. common law vs. civil law) must be taken into consideration throughout the process for the development of the ethics system, however, must not be used as means to deviate from established international ethics standards. The Guidebook ends by stressing the importance of education and training after the code of conduct is developed. Ethics regimes can only be established and adhered to when parliamentarians are educated and trained on the conditions, behaviors and etiquette they must follow.

The Arab Region’s Chapter of GOPAC, “ARPAC” and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (“WFD”) have teamed up and made follow-up plans to the development of the Guidebook on Parliamentary Ethics in the Arab region. ARPAC has commissioned researchers in each of their eight national chapters to conduct studies on current ethics regimes in their respective countries and will later collaborate with parliamentarians to adapt the Guidebook on Parliamentary Ethics into their parliamentary structures. Training sessions and educational seminars are scheduled to be held in order to help parliamentarians in the Arab region develop their own codes of conduct and ethical regimes based on established international standards.

The option of developing an electronic based toolkit is also being looked into with the help of the UNDP, so that trainings can be far more accessible and interactive. The e-toolkit will allow parliamentarians all over the world to get an overview of the Guidebook and help them kick-off their work on creating a code of conduct for their parliaments.