CC BY
11
Rahimov S.A.
Employee of the Customs institute of the State Customs Committee of the
Republic of Uzbekistan
THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL CENTRES IN THE
FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
Abstract: The article highlights the role of educational and scientific centers in raising the legal awareness and literacy of the population, including youth, in the fight against corruption, as well as the ongoing work in the Republic of Uzbekistan and the measures taken.
Key words: international experience, action strategy, Transparency International, internet forum, assembly, Interpol, honesty vaccine.
Introduction
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the Decree "On the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022 -2026 years" in order to systematically continue comprehensive measures aimed at wide development of social and economic sectors in our country, improvement of life quality of the population and integration into the international arena. The 4th direction of the strategy, which is one of the 7 important directions, is called "Conducting a fair social policy, development of human capital" and includes the training of qualified personnel through the improvement of the education system - the development of human capital.
The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev explained the importance and relevance of this direction in his speech as follows: "Salvation is in education, salvation is in care, salvation is in knowledge" [1].
All areas related to human activity require constant development, knowledge and skills. After all, as the first president of the Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, said: "Education is such a powerful weapon that it can be used to change the world."
Today, the evil that threatens the world that needs to be combated by this powerful weapon is corruption. Studying and combating corruption has been the constant focus of many researchers and politicians in the world community, and as a result of their analysis, the factors that cause it and the means of combating it has been identified.
One of the main factors causing corruption is the low level of legal literacy of the population. This means that the issues of corruption and combating it should be part of the education system, not only for civil servants facing corruption, but also for all layers of the population: the youth, the elderly, workers should have knowledge and skills related to this field. In general, anticorruption education should be an integral part of the anti-corruption strategy.
The article talks about the uniqueness of fighting against corruption by improving the education system and the importance of scientific and other institutions that provide training on fighting corruption based on international experience.
Research methodology
This article uses the analysis of PhD dissertations, articles and approaches and views of local and foreign scholars on the subject, the author's attitude to them, as well as factorial, comparative and statistical analysis within the available data.
Analysis and results
a) international experience on the role of education in fighting corruption
The role of education in the fight against corruption is manifested by forming the concepts of corruption itself, its negative consequences and combating it in the individual, resisting the occurrence of corruption in the society, and leading to the growth of the legal consciousness of the population. It is known that it is better to prevent a disease than to cure it. Therefore, in the experience of countries that have achieved the highest effectiveness in fighting against corruption, as well as in the experience of international organizations fighting against it, we can see that some of the measures aimed at fighting it are related to the education system.
In particular, Transparency International, an international organization dealing with corruption, considers the development of education in this regard to be the most important tool in forming an attitude of intolerance towards corruption. According to the organization, the level of knowledge about corruption among all layers of society plays a role in fighting against corruption. Because, when the public is faced with the ethical dilemma in the society and the situation related to receiving and giving bribes, having knowledge about corruption will help to prevent it from happening and to take timely action against the civil servants who violate the rules of ethics.
Anti-corruption programs, decisions, decrees, laws and structures will have no effect without people who fight against it and express uncompromising opinions about it.
According to the experience of international organizations, there are a number of methods of providing education on corruption. Subjects designed for anti-corruption education include history, politics, religious studies, economics, ethics, and fundamentals of civil law. Although the sciences directly and indirectly form knowledge related to the field, the introduction of the sciences aimed at fighting corruption still has its place.
Therefore, among the many international projects implemented by international organizations in the fight against corruption, one can also find those related to education.
In particular, in 2005-2007, 750 students from Lithuania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Romania, Russia and Ukraine participated in the project "Education against corruption" organized by the international consortium "Development of critical thinking through reading and writing" under the coordination of the Republic of Lithuania. More than 200 teachers and more than 200 school administrators participated. The aim was to promote education on corruption in schools, institutes and universities based on the experience of Lithuania.
Lithuania has implemented many education-related projects in its anticorruption experience. Examples of such comprehensive projects as "Warning against corruption through awareness, education and information" (2003 -2004), "Youth for transparency" (2006). Based on these projects, additional anti-corruption classes for high schools, courses and programs for universities, and training for teachers were organized [2].
In the experience of international organizations and developed countries, we can see those modern methods of using Internet resources are used in education on corruption. For example:
- The World Bank has created 10 modules designed to educate young people on fighting corruption;
- Internet games have been introduced in Mexico where young people are invited to become anti-corruption agents;
- The Chinese site "Teens land" is aimed at this area.
International anti-corruption conferences and internet forums are held every year by the International Anti-Corruption Youth Network. Similar experiences can be found in Macedonia, Latvia, Poland, Indonesia, Australia, and Bulgaria [3]. In these countries, subjects that provide information about corruption are also organized in schools.
In addition, there are scientific centers, institutes and educational institutes in the world whose activities are aimed at teaching, studying and conducting research on the fight against corruption. One of them is the International AntiCorruption Academy (IACA) established by the initiative of international organizations such as Interpol, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), located in Luxemburg, Austria.
The Academy is the first international organization in this field, and in addition to various educational courses on corruption, it also has a think tank engaged in comparative analysis. Its main tasks include ensuring international cooperation, exchange of knowledge and skills, and bilateral assistance.
The UN Anti-Corruption Global Learning Platform is an online learning site for all levels of the population.
There are also international research centers in the field. One of them is "U4", a permanent center of the Michelsen Institute located in Bergen, Norway. In 1999, at a meeting of the International Development Ministers of Norway, the
Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany in the town of Utstein, Norway, the idea of cooperation in improving the fight against corruption led to the creation of the Utstein Partnership. After that, in 2002, the activity of the center was established under the Michelsen Institute. The center is named a fter the "U" from Utstein and 4 ministers: Hilde Fraford Johnson (Norway), Claire Short (Great Britain), Evelyn Herfkens (Netherlands) and Heidemarie Wichorek-Zoyl (Germany). This center conducts constant observation and research, and prepares analytical data.
Similar centers include the European Center for State-Building and AntiCorruption Studies, the Center for Corruption Education at the University of Sussex, and the Center for International Anti-Corruption Management.
In addition, one of the advanced foreign experiences in educating young people in the spirit of anti-corruption can be cited as an example of the establishment of the "Youth Assembly Against Corruption" for students in cooperation with the Parliament of Panama. The activity of this assembly is aimed at developing proposals to fight against corruption in the fields of education, health, construction, transport, and sports [4].
b) Activities of education centers on corruption in Uzbekistan The field of combating corruption in the Republic of Uzbekistan is one of the relatively new developing systems. Since the first years of independence, efforts have been made to combat corruption and its forms, such as bribery and conflicts of interest. Although the Criminal Code stipulates the inevitability of responsibility for the commission of this type of criminal act, the acute level of combating it is based on the political will of President Sh. Mirziyoyev in 2016 occurred at the end.
In the past short period of time, along with the adoption of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Combating Corruption", Presidential Decrees and Decisions, which are considered to be comprehensive in the field, an independent institution, the Anti-Corruption Agency, was established based on international experience.
It should be noted that in the Republic of Uzbekistan, education on combating corruption is approved by the Law. In particular, Article 12 of the Law enumerates the powers of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the field of combating corruption, and one of them is participation in the implementation of legal education and training measures in the field of combating corruption in educational institutions.
Also, Article 18 of the Law is entitled "Legal education and training in the field of combating corruption in educational institutions", which states that legal education and training in the field of combating corruption in educational institutions shall be carried out in accordance with the established state educational standards.
Initially, comprehensive measures at the national level were implemented on the basis of state programs, but today, as a result of the new level of reforms,
the need to adopt a national strategy for combating corruption is emerging. In particular, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Sh. Mirziyoev, in his "Strategy of New Uzbekistan": is the demand of the day [5].
The continuation of measures to fight against corruption requires the reform of the education system. Therefore, in paragraph 11 of the Decision of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated July 06, 2021 PD-5177 "On additional measures to effectively organize anti-corruption activities" starting from January 1, 2022, the Agency, the Ministry of Justice, the Academy of Public Administration, and the Academy of the General Prosecutor's Office have been instructed to introduce a system of regular training of civil servants in special training courses on the fight against corruption, conflicts of interest, and ethics, based on the principle of "honesty vaccine".
Also, with Decree No. PD-6257 of July 06, 2021 "On measures to create an environment of zero-tolerance against corruption, to drastically reduce corrupt factors in state and community management, and to expand public participation in this" Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education, Ministry of Public Education, the Ministry of Pre-School Education, the AntiCorruption Agency, the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General's Office have been given instructions to implement systematic and targeted measures to provide legal education in the field of combating corruption in educational institutions and to approve comprehensive measures to provide legal education to young people in the field of combating corruption.
Today, at all levels of the educational system of the Republic of Uzbekistan, special anti-corruption courses in schools, higher education and retraining and professional development courses, and "Journalist investigation against corruption" have been introduced in training institutions for journalists.
In addition, on a paid basis, CERT Academy provides training based on the requirements of the Anti-Corruption Standard (ISO 37001:2016) [6].
Also, the activities of the Scientific Education Center for Combating Corruption have been established under the Academy of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The main tasks of the center include the study and analysis of the causes and conditions of the commission of corruption offenses, their prevention, including the study of the state of prevention of corruption offenses and specific types of crimes.
Since the majority of the country's population is made up of young people, the above-mentioned activities will help to form their understanding of corruption and educate them in a spirit of tolerance against corruption. In this regard, the importance of organizations such as the Youth Union of Uzbekistan and the Agency for Youth Affairs, whose activities are aimed at working with young people, is particularly noteworthy.
Therefore, in order to ensure the participation of these organizations in educating young people in a spirit of tolerance against corruption and other types of crimes by the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan, with the Law
of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated January 25, 2022 No. Law No. 371 was supplemented with a new Article 191. This article is called the powers of the Youth Affairs Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan and its territorial divisions in the field of crime prevention, and it provides for the Agency's participation in legal advocacy activities aimed at raising legal awareness, legal culture and strengthening legitimacy among young people in society, as well as forming an uncompromising attitude towards corruption. Taking into account that one of the important areas of increasing the legal awareness and literacy of the population is the training of teachers and students of higher and secondary special educational institutions in the field and the education of young people in the spirit of anti-corruption, it is appropriate to use the positive results of international experience.
Conclusions and suggestions
International experience, including the experience of Singapore, which has the lowest level of corruption in the world, shows that the formation of a corruption-free society requires a complex strategy and a long time for its systematic implementation. After all, if the fight against it is carried out only by the state administration and law enforcement agencies, it will be possible to eliminate the cases of corruption, but the factors will not disappear.
The national system of combating corruption was introduced with strategic plans based on all the methods and tools that ensure the effectiveness of combating it, and a special role of education, research and youth was noted in it.
However, it is known to everyone that only explaining the problem to young people and organizing classes will not give sufficient results even according to the requirements of modern pedagogy. It is also necessary to listen to the opinions of young people, to make them feel that they are involved in the future of the country. Accordingly, in addition to the Youth Parliament operating under the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, it is proposed to establish "Youth Assembly of Uzbekistan against Corruption" or a similar non -governmental and non-commercial organization and to recognize this organization as a personnel reserve of the anti-corruption system.
References:
1. https://president.uz/uz/lists/view/4945
2. https:// spbappo.ru/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/antikor_mir_354.pdf
3. https://transparency.org.ru/
4. Mungiu-Pippidi, A. (2011). Contextual Choices in Fighting Corruption: Lessons Learned. Berlin, Oslo, Norway: NORAD - Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. Retrieved June 7, 2017 from https://www.norad.no/ombistand/publikasjon/2011/contextual-choices-in-fighting-corruption-lessons-learned.
5. Sh. Mirziyoyev "Strategy of New Uzbekistan". Tashkent: 2021, 464 pp
6. https ://certgroup. org/cert-academy
