OW NATO Print

TI UK's defence programme and NATO are developing a ‘Building Integrity’ training module, available to military officers and senior MoD officials

Introduction
Transparency International UK's work with NATO
Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption Risk

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Introduction

All over the world, countries are looking for ways to streamline their security forces to make them more responsive both to threats and the new ethos of democratic and civilian control of military activities and operations.

NATO’s efforts to promote defence reform were given added momentum at the Istanbul Summit in 2004 when the 44 allies and partners in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) reaffirmed a shared conviction that efficient and transparent defence institutions under civilian control are fundamental to stability and international cooperation over security.

In Istanbul, the EAPC Heads of States and Governments endorsed the Partnership Action Plan on Defence Institution Building, or PAP-DIB, a bilateral cooperation initiative between partner nations and NATO that provides a framework for reform planning, the exchange of experiences, and practical advice on achieving 10 specific objectives in the defence and security sector.

The agenda aims to ensure that NATO’s partners observe common guidelines as they downsize their defence institutions to meet the security imperatives of the 21st century; to guarantee a minimum level of inter-operability between existing and future NATO members; and to develop a shared esprit de corps as future contributors to NATO’s overseas missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo and elsewhere.

Of the action plan's 10 objectives, four stress the need for transparency, while an additional two refer to other openness measures:
  • Develop effective and transparent arrangements for democratic control of defence activities
  • Enhance civilian participation in developing defence and security policy
  • Develop effective and transparent legislative and judicial oversight of the defence sector
  • Develop arrangements and practices to ensure compliance with international norms and practices in the defence sector, including export controls
  • Develop effective and transparent personnel structures and practices in the defence forces
  • Develop effective and transparent financial, planning and resource allocation procedures in the defence area
These are challenging requirements for Defence Ministries that are struggling to cope with over-large armed forces, reduced budgets, obsolete equipment, opaque working methods and, in some cases, very real threats to their national security.

There is, moreover, little guidance for Defence Ministries on how to achieve the transparency objectives of PAP–DIB. The current action plan makes use of pre-existing Partners for Peace (PfP) tools, such as the Individual Partnership Action Plan and PfP Planning and Review Process, but these are tailored to the situations of individual states and are not more generally applicable. NATO promotes transparency, democratic control of armed forces, and greater accountability in its 44 members’ and partners’ security institutions, and although the development of a NATO anti-corruption policy is in train, this will not be translated into practical guidance for some time.

The defence programme's work with NATO

NATO has asked Transparency International UK's defence programme to use its expertise to develop a new training module to correct the current lack of emphasis on anti-corruption mechanisms in the PAP-DIB, and to build integrity and anti-corruption capacity in the defence institutions of NATO’s members and partners. The module, which could be run from the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham, UK, is intended to reinforce NATO efforts to prevent corruption, and to support the commitment of other international organisations, including the UN Convention against Corruption, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the World Bank strategy on corruption, and the anti-corruption instruments of other international and regional organisations.

But the application of training modules that build integrity into the opaque, decision-making processes of national Defence Ministries is potentially global. In countries as diverse as Colombia, South Korea, Latvia and Poland, national security institutions are discovering that transparency measures work strongly in their favour by staunching the waste of defence sector resources and strengthening defensive capabilities.

Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption Risk
Transparency International UK is collaborating with NATO on the new ‘Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption Risk’ programme, which focuses on the development of practical tools for implementation in defence institutions. The programme was approved by 24 Ally and 23 Partner nations in November 2007 and ratified at the NATO Bucharest Summit in April 2008.
Components of the programme include:
On July 1st 2008 NATO launched a Trust Fund to build integrity and promote best practices in defence establishments. It will support the development of the self-assessment tool for nations and the training courses for civilian and military personnel.

Workshops and Conferences
Since July 2007, advanced research workshop on ‘Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in the Defence Sector’ have been organised jointly by NATO, the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom and Transparency International UK. One of the core aims has been the development of a training module for senior defence officers and officials that can be given in Partnership for Peace training centres, NATO training centres and national defence colleges. More information on the conference and workshop can be found here

  
See Mark Pyman's interview (June 2007) with NATO on "fighting corruption in defence":
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