11.12.2023.
The Agency for Prevention of Corruption marks the International Anti-Corruption Day with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia at the International Conference „Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment: Way to Strengthen the Integrity “.
At the conference that was held today, the director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, Dejan Damnjanović, stressed the importance of introducing the topic of corruption prevention into all levels of youth education in our country. Director emphasized that the Agency had recognized the importance of the role of youth in the field of corruption prevention through the introduction of this topic in extracurricular activities and programs of primary, secondary, and higher education institutions, in which there has been a great support from the authorized ministries, as well as other domestic and international partners.
Ambassador and Head of the OSCE Mission in Serbia, Jan Braathu, among other things, pointed out that the reform can start by mapping the types of corruption in the education sector and the basic incentives for corruption. Hence, the research on the perception of corruption at the universities in Serbia, which was presented today, represents a welcome first step.
In the opening presentation, the conference participants were also addressed by the Minister of Education Slavica Đukić Dejanović, Minister of Science, Technological Development, and Innovation Jelena Begović, as well as Zoran Pašalić, the Protector of Citizens. They all agreed that there is a consensus on the importance of the topic, as well as that cooperation and coordination of the activities of all key actors are necessary so that the anti-corruption education and upbringing of young people would really be aimed at strengthening of social integrity.
With this conference, which was attended by prominent experts from the field of education and academic system of Serbia, i.e. the University of Belgrade, the Judicial Academy, the Ministry of Education, the Human Resources Management Service, the Student’s Center Belgrade, as well as international partners from the Special Investigation Service of Lithuania and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Agency continues to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day with activities that last from December 9 to 16, and which will be continued, after the conference, with debates at the universities in Belgrade, Niš, Kragujevac and Novi Sad, and finalized with the chess competition "Chess – checkmate to Corruption''.
The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the UN Convention against Corruption on October 31, 2003, thus designating December 9 as the International Anti-Corruption Day aimed at raising awareness on corruption as well as the role of the Convention in prevention and fight against corruption. UN Convention entered into force in 2005 which is when it was also ratified by the Republic of Serbia.
