Speaker Dr. Rewaz Faiq's statement on International Anti-Corruption Day
The 9th of December, International Anti-Corruption Day is observed as one of the most important days in the United Nations calendar, to raise awareness in the international community of the dangers and ruthless impact of corruption on society, to encourage measures to achieve reform and eradicate corruption.
The people of the Kurdistan Region have suffered for years from the impact of different forms of corruption and currently face adversity partly as a result of this. That's why, in our efforts to formulate a national anti-corruption strategy and create a roadmap to end this scourge on society that has exacerbated inequality and disharmony between citizens, in this current term of the Kurdistan Parliament we passed three important and essential laws anti-corruption laws.
The most important of these is Law No. 2 of 2020, the Law on Reform of Salaries, Allowances, Benefits, Privileges and Pensions in the Kurdistan Region-Iraq; as well as the Law on Prevention of Smuggling of Oil, Gas and Oil Products in Kurdistan Region – Iraq (Law No. 3 of 2020); and the Law on Responsibility in the Kurdistan Region (Law No. 5 of 2020).
At the same time, with our support for the reform measures, the government and official institutions should press ahead more quickly and efficiently in implementing all the laws that Parliament has passed to eradicate corruption, achieve social justice and improve governance.
Any authority that is to endure must accept the truth that protecting citizens’ interests, overcoming obstacles and allowing investigations and accountability are essential, as well as ensuring impartiality of the courts and protecting democratic values as priorities and a major pillar of achieving these goals.
I hope that all sides at this critical time will unhesitatingly, loyally and genuinely meet their responsibility to save Kurdistan from the tragedies that the people have suffered from for years due to lack of transparency, social justice and inequality.
Dr. Rewaz Faiq
Speaker of Kurdistan Parliament
9 December 2021