UNDP launched the Anti-Corruption for Trust in Lebanon Project in June 2020 to enable the adoption and measurable progress in the implementation of an integrated and targeted approach to preventing and combating corruption that is in line with the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) and Lebanon’s commitments under the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), to which Lebanon is a State Party since 2009.
The Project focuses on the achievement of four outputs: Output 1: Capacity to oversee and monitor national anti-corruption strategy institutionalized and supported
Output 2: Specialized anti-corruption legislations enacted and supported for effective implementation
Output 3: National Anti-Corruption Institution operationalized and strengthened
Output 4: Corruption risk management mechanisms integrated in key vulnerable sectors
Furthermore, the project promotes four cross-cutting themes, as part and parcel of the activities envisioned under the four outputs described above, which are public participation (open and sustained engagement of the public and key stakeholders from civil society, the business community, universities, and professional syndicates in key project activities); gender equality (equal participation of women in project activities, and integration of a gender lens in the analyses conducted and the proposed policies, plans, and legal reforms at the national and local levels as cross-sectoral and sectoral levels); youth empowerment (proactive engagement of Lebanese youths to strengthen their capacities as advocates and watchdogs for anti-corruption); and human rights (promotion of synergies between NACI and the National Human Rights Institution, and emphasis on right to information, due process, and the nexus between sectoral interventions and the rights to health, education, and other development rights).
In parallel, the Lebanese Parliamentary Human Rights Commission requested the support of UNDP to develop the 2020-2024 National Action Plan for Human Rights in Lebanon (NAP).
The 2014-2019 NAP was the first of its kind in Lebanon and was adopted following the call of the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action for States to draw up national action plans on human rights. The plan also responded to a recommendation to develop and implement such plan endorsed by the Government as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2010. Public and private authorities joined efforts with the aid of sectoral study experts to elaborate draft chapters, which were discussed through more than 70 workshops. The plan’s objectives targeted legislative, procedural, executive, judicial and social measures to promote and protect human rights in 21 priority areas. Several of the plan’s objectives were also reflected in the recommendations endorsed by the Government as part of the UPR review in 2016. Its implementation lied with relevant authorities including the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee and other relevant committees, the Council of Ministers and public administration, the judiciary, local administration, Lebanese and international civil society organizations, media organizations, and international organizations, each within its field of competence. The process of developing the plan was led by the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee in cooperation with OHCHR and UNDP, and in collaboration with other parliamentary committees, relevant ministries and administrations (including the Security Forces), judges, international agencies, experts and Lebanese civil society organizations working on human rights.
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