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SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC Public Administration Country Profile Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM) Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) United Nations September 2004 All papers, statistics and materials contained in the Country Profiles express entirely the opinion of the mentioned authors. They should not, unless otherwise mentioned, be attributed to the Secretariat of the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of material on maps in the Country Profiles do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Table of Contents Table of Contents........................................................................................... 1 Syria ............................................................................................................ 2 1. General Information ................................................................................... 3 1.1 People.................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Economy .............................................................................................. 3 1.3 Public Spending ..................................................................................... 4 1.4 Public Sector Employment and Wages....................................................... 4 2. Legal Structure .......................................................................................... 5 2.1 Legislative Branch.................................................................................. 5 2.2 Executive Branch ................................................................................... 6 2.3 Judiciary Branch .................................................................................... 7 2.4 Local Government.................................................................................. 8 3. The State and Civil Society .......................................................................... 9 3.1 Ombudsperson ...................................................................................... 9 3.2 NGOs ................................................................................................... 9 3.3 Civil Society .......................................................................................... 9 4. Civil Service .............................................................................................11 4.1 Legal basis...........................................................................................11 4.2 Recruitment .........................................................................................11 4.3 Promotion............................................................................................11 4.4 Remuneration ......................................................................................11 4.5 Training...............................................................................................11 4.6 Gender................................................................................................11 5. Ethics and Civil Service ..............................................................................13 5.1 Corruption ...........................................................................................13 5.2 Ethics..................................................................................................13 6. e-Government ..........................................................................................14 6.1 e-Government Readiness .......................................................................14 6.2 e-Participation ......................................................................................15 6.3 ICT .....................................................................................................16 7. Links .......................................................................................................17 7.1 National sites .......................................................................................17 7.2 Miscellaneous sites................................................................................17 1 SYRIA Syria Click here for detailed map Government type Republic under military rule since March 1963 Independence 17 April 1946 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration) Constitution 13 March 1973 (click here) Legal system Based on Islamic law and civil law system; special religious courts; has not accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction Administrative divisions Source: The World Factbook - Syria 14 provinces (muhafazah) Source: The World Factbook - Syria 1958 Syria becomes part of the United Arab Republic, which is dominated by Egypt and falls apart again in 1961. 1963 Baath Party emerges victorious from internal power struggle. 1966 Military putsch by the left wing of the Baath Party 1967 Six Day War against Israel: loss of most of the Golan Heights 1970 General Hafiz al-Assad assumes power: launch of a reform programme with the socalled Correction Movement. 1971 - 2000 Hafiz al-Assad is President. 1973 Yom Kippur War: Golan Heights cannot be recaptured. 1975 Shuttle diplomacy by US Secretary of State Kissinger leads to a new cease-fire line, Quneitra ("Golan capital") is returned to Syria. 1981 Annexation of Golan Heights by Israel 17 July 2000 Swearing in of al-Assad's son, Dr Bashar al-Assad, as new President, after he receives 97.29% of the votes in a referendum. Source: Federal Foreign Office (Germany) - Syria: History 2 1. General Information 1.1 People Syria Jordan Lebanon Population 1 a Total estimated population (,000), 2003 17,799 5,473 Female estimated population (,000), 2003 8,828 2,624 3,652 1,862 Male estimated population (,000), 2003 8,971 2,849 1,790 Sex ratio (males per 100 females), 2003 102 109 96 Average annual rate of change of pop. (%), 2000-2005 2.38 2.66 1.56 Youth and Elderly Population b Total population under age 15 (%), 2003 37 38 29 Female population aged 60+ (%), 2003 5 5 9 Male population aged 60+ (%), 2003 4 5 8 52 79 90 Human Settlements c Urban population (%), 2001 Rural population (%), 2001 48 21 10 Urban average annual rate of change in pop. (%), ‘00-‘05 3.25 2.96 1.88 Rural average annual rate of change in pop/ (%), ‘00-‘05 1.78 2.19 -1.55 9 12.3i 12.8 1 .. i 13 1 12.7 1 2 Education d Total school life expectancy, 1998/1999 Female school life expectancy, 1998/1999 Male school life expectancy, 1998/1999 12.6 .. i 12 ii Female estimated adult (15+) illiteracy rate (%), 2000 39.6 15.7 19.7 Male estimated adult (15+) illiteracy rate (%), 2000 11.7 5.1ii 7.9 Employment Unemployment rate (15+) (%), 2001 11.2 1991; iii Excluding armed forces; iv 1 .. 2 iv 73 .. 2 Syria Jordan Lebanon 2 21,872 9,296 17,294 21 iii Male adult (+15) economic activity rate (%), 2001 ii .. iv iii Female adult (+15) economic activity rate (%), 2001 Notes: i 1999/2000; 2 e 83 .. 13 1993, Excluding armed forces 1.2 Economy GDP a GDP total (millions US$), 2002 GDP per capita (US$), 2002 1,286 1,798 3,894 57,563 21,233 18,845 3,385 4,106 4,243 Value added in agriculture (% of GDP), 2004 23.5 26.0 12.2 Value added in industry (% of GDP), 2004 28.6 71.8 20.0 Value added in services (% of GDP), 2004 48.0 44.5 67.7 5.1 1.9 1.3 PPP GDP total (millions int. US$), 2002 PPP GDP per capita(int. US$), 2002 Sectors b Miscellaneous c GDP implicit price deflator (annual % growth), 2004 Private consumption (% of GDP), 2004 58.5 79.7 96.1 Government consumption (% of GDP), 2004 10.7 23.2 12.8 Notes: 1 United Nations Statistics Division: Statistics Division and Population Division of the UN Secretariat; b Statistics Division and Population Division of the UN Secretariat; c Population Division of the UN Secretariat; d1 UNESCO ; d2 UNESCO; e1 ILO; e2 ILO/OECD 2 World Bank - Data and Statistics: a Quick Reference Tables; b Data Profile Tables ; c Country at a Glance a 3 1.3 Public Spending Syria Jordan Lebanon Education (% of GNP), 1985-1987 4.8 6.8 .. a Education (% of GNP), 1995-1997 4.2 7.9 2.5i a Public expenditures 3 Health (% of GDP), 1990 0.4 3.6 .. Health (% of GDP), 1998 0.9 3.6 2.2 Military (% of GDP), 1990 6.9 11.1 5 b Military (% of GDP), 2000 5.5 9.5 3.6 b Total debt service (% of GDP), 1990 9.7 15.5 3.5 Total debt service (% of GDP), 2000 2 8 11 Notes: i Data refer to the ministry of education only 1.4 Public Sector Employment and Wages Syria 1991-1995 Syria 1996-2000 (,000) .. 137.0 (% pop.) .. 0.94 Data from the latest year available Middle East & North Africa average4 1996-2000 Non-Gulf States average4 1996-2000 Middle income group average4 1996-2000 0.65 0.65 0.59 0.65 0.65 0.59 0.96 0.97 1.20 0.20 0.21 0.70 0.37 0.26 0.30 0.91 0.86 0.46 2.67 1.04 3.61 6.26 6.26 6.05 Employment Civilian Central Government5 Sub-national Government5 Education employees Health employees Police Armed forces SOE Employees Total Public Employment (,000) .. 40.0 (% pop.) .. 0.28 (,000) .. 179.35 (% pop.) (,000) (% pop.) .. 1.24 47.06 .. 0.33 .. (,000) .. 8.0 (% pop.) .. 0.05 320.0 (,000) .. (% pop.) .. 2.09 (,000) .. 463.0 (% pop.) .. 3.10 (,000) .. .. (% pop.) .. .. Wages Total Central gov't wage bill (% of GDP) 8.7 10.0 11.1 10.5 8.5 Total Central gov’t wage bill (% of exp) .. .. 32.6 29.3 21.6 Average gov't wage (LCU) 65,214 34,622 Real ave. gov’t wage ('97 price) (LCU) 78,009 35,431 2.3 2.3 4.2 Average gov’t wage to per capita GDP ratio 1.8 0.7 Source: World Bank - Public Sector Employment and Wages 3 UNDP - Human Development Report 2002 Data refer to total public expenditure on education, including current and capital expenditures. As a result of a number of limitations in the data, comparisons of military expenditure data over time and across countries should be made with caution. For detailed notes on the data see SIPRI (2001). 4 Averages for regions and sub regions are only generated if data is available for at least 35% of the countries in that region or sub region. 5 Excluding education, health and police – if available (view Country Sources for further explanations). a b 4 2. Legal Structure T he Constitution of 1973 provides for a republican form of government and stipulates that the people are the ultimate source of national sovereignty. Power is divided into the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The President of the Republic has executive as well as some legislative powers. Legislative authority, however, is entrusted mainly to the People's Assembly. Source: UNDP (POGAR - Programme on Governance in the Arab Region) - Syria: Constitution 2.1 Legislative Branch Unicameral People's Council or Majlis al-shaab (250 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve fouryear terms).6 women in parliament: 30 out of 250 seats: (12%).7 The Syrian parliament is the unicameral People's Assembly (Majlis al-Shaab). Its 250 members are elected popularly for four-year terms of office. No less than 50 percent of the parliament must represent workers and peasants. The Assembly sits in three regular sessions annually and may be called into special session by the speaker, by the president of the republic, or at the request of one-third of the Assembly members. The Assembly enacts laws, discusses government policy, approves the general budget and development plans, ratifies treaties, and nominates the candidate for the presidency of the republic. Fact box: elections: last held 2-3 March 2003 (next to be held 2007) election results: percent of vote by party - NPF 67%, independents 33%; seats by party NPF 167, independents 83 The People’s Assembly is endowed with authority to debate, amend and approve legislation and presidential decrees. The People's Assembly may debate motions of no confidence in the Council of Ministers as a whole or in an individual minister. Such a motion must be initiated by at least one-fifth of the members and, to become effective, must be approved by the majority of the People's Assembly. If the motion is carried, the Council of Ministers or the individual minister concerned must resign. The People’s Assembly debates and passes legislation. Any law passed by the assembly is subject to review by the president, who has one month to promulgate the law or return it to the legislature. Any bill so returned can be put to a second vote. If the bill obtains a two-thirds majority of those present and at least an absolute majority of all members of the legislature, then the president must issue the bill as law. One third of the members of the People’s Assembly can propose a constitutional amendment, though such an amendment must win by a three-fourths majority and be approved by the president to enter into force. The members of the People's Assembly elect the speaker for a one-year term by absolute majority for the first round and simple majority for subsequent rounds. The speaker convenes sessions, establishes and modifies the parliamentary agenda, organizes the debates and sets speaking time, examines the admissibility of bills and amendments, refers texts to one of the Assembly’s standing committees for study, examines the admissibility of requests for setting up provisional committees and/or special committees of enquiry, and proposes or decides on the setting-up of such 6 7 Source of fact boxes if nothing else stated: The World Factbook - Syria Inter-Parliamentary Union - Women in National Parliaments 5 committees. He also takes the floor in legislative debates, takes part in voting, proposes bills or amendments, and intervenes in the parliamentary oversight procedure. Source: UNDP (POGAR - Programme on Governance in the Arab Region) - Syria: Legislature 2.2 Executive Branch cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president elections: President elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; referendum/election last held 10 July 2000 - after the death of President Hafiz al-ASAD, father of Bashar al-ASAD - (next to be held 2007); vice presidents appointed by the president; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president The President, proposed by the Ba’th (Arab Socialist Resurrection) Party and then nominated by the People's Assembly, is voted into office by national referendum to serve a seven-year term. He may delegate his powers, at his sole discretion, to his vice presidents. The President is the Head of State, the chief executive, and the secretary of the ruling Ba’th Party. He appoints and dismisses the vice presidents, the prime minister, deputy prime ministers, other members of the Council of Ministers (the cabinet), and top civil servants and military officers. The Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister, is responsible to the president. The President of the Republic is the commander in chief of the armed forces and can declare war. He promulgates the laws approved by the People's Assembly. He may veto these laws, giving the reasons for his objection within a month after their receipt. If the Assembly again approves them by a two-thirds majority, the president of the republic has to issue them. However, he has the right to dissolve the People's Assembly, in which case a new Assembly must be elected within 90 days from the date of dissolution. He may not do so twice for the same reason. Fact box: chief of state: President Bashar al-ASAD (since 17 July 2000); Vice Presidents Abd al-Halim ibn Said KHADDAM (since 11 March 1984) and Muhammad Zuhayr MASHARIQA (since 11 March 1984) head of government: Prime Minister Muhammad Naji alUTRI (since 10 September 2003), Deputy Prime Ministers Lt. Gen. Mustafa TALAS (since 11 March 1984), Farouk alSHARA (since 13 December 2001), Dr. Muhammad alHUSAYN (since 13 December 2001) The President of the Republic assumes legislative authority when the People's Assembly is not in session, provided that all the legislation issued by him is referred to the People's Assembly in its first session. The President can assume legislative authority even when the Assembly is in session in order to safeguard the country's national interest “in case of absolute need relating to national security.” All presidential decrees, however, must be presented to the legislature for their endorsement. The Assembly may, by a two-thirds vote, amend or rescind presidential decrees, provided that the two-thirds majority constitutes no less than the absolute majority of the Assembly membership. The President cannot be removed from power except for high treason. Impeachment proceedings may be initiated through a petition signed by one-third of the members of the People's Assembly voting openly or by a petition of two-thirds of the Assembly members voting at a special closed session. The President can be tried only by the Supreme Constitutional Court, of which he is a member. Article 113 of the constitution grants the President broad emergency powers and those powers have been in effect in Syria since the 1963. The President of the Republic can call for national referenda. The results of the referenda are binding and 6 effective on the date of their promulgation by the President. He can form specialized organizations, councils, and committees. By Article 8 of the Constitution, the Arab Ba’th Socialist Party is the leading party in the state and society and heads the National Progressive Front. The President of the Republic is chairman of the Front as well as Secretary General of the Ba’th Party. The Front decides on matters of war and peace. It approves the five-year plans of the state, discusses the economic policy, lays down the plans for a national, socialist education, and determines the state’s general political orientation. Source: UNDP (POGAR - Programme on Governance in the Arab Region) - Syria: Constitution 2.3 Judiciary Branch Supreme Constitutional Court (justices are appointed for four-year terms by the president); High Judicial Council; Court of Cassation; State Security Courts. The legal system of Syria draws primarily from Civil Law traditions, as well as Islamic and Egyptian legal traditions. The Syrian Constitution of 1973 guarantees the independence of the judiciary. The chief codifications of law are contained in the Civil Code of 1949, the Commercial Code of 1949, the Penal Code of 1949, the Criminal Procedure Code of 1950, the Civil Procedure Code of 1953, and the Personal Status Code, contained in Legislative Decree No. 59 of 1983. The Judicial Authority Law of 1961 and the Civil Code of 1949 are the primary documents governing the organization and functioning of the secular judicial system. Administrative authority of the judiciary, including the powers to appoint, promote, and transfer judges, is vested in the Supreme Judicial Council, which is presided over by the Minister of Justice. Syria has a dual judicial system, with separate secular and religious courts. The secular courts hear both civil and criminal matters. At the lowest level are the Courts of Peace, or Courts of Conciliation (Sulhiyya), composed of a single judge with jurisdiction to hear cases involving lesser offenses. At the second level are the Courts of First Instance (Bida’iyya), which are divided into civil and criminal courts. The Court of Assize is an additional criminal court that hears cases in which the punishment may exceed three years’ imprisonment. Decisions rendered by the Courts of Peace, Courts of First Instance, and Court of Assize may be appealed to the Court of Appeal, or, in some instances, the Court of Cassation. (Of the 30 total Courts of Appeal, three criminal courts and four civil courts are located in Damascus, and one civil court and one criminal court is located in every district.) Decisions of the Courts of Appeal may not be appealed. However, their verdicts may be nullified by the Court of Cassation, which is located in Damascus and subdivided into specialized three-judge panels devoted to civil, criminal, canonical, and military matters. The final court of appeal is the Court of Cassation, which is located in Damascus and subdivided into specialized three-judge panels devoted to civil, criminal, canonical, and military matters. The Shari’a, Doctrinal, and Spiritual Courts have specialized jurisdiction. The Shari’a courts hear cases involving personal status, family, and inheritance disputes among Syrian Muslims and non-Syrian Muslims who apply Islamic personal status laws in their own countries. The cities of Damascus and Aleppo have three Shari’a Courts; other districts have one. The Doctrinal Courts are composed of a judge of the Druze 7 Muslim sect and are empowered to guarantee that personal status decisions of members of the Druze sect are not in conflict with the rules of the sect. The Spiritual Courts settle personal status matters for Jewish, Christian, and other non-Muslim groups. Decisions of all of the religious courts may be appealed to the Canonical and Spiritual divisions of the Court of Cassation. There are a number of other courts with specialized jurisdictions, including the Court of Juvenile Offenders, Court of Customs, Court of Labor Conflict, and Military Courts. Administrative Courts adjudicate administrative disputes involving the state and its agencies. The Supreme Constitutional Court may rule on the constitutionality of laws, hear election disputes, and try the president if accused of criminal offenses. The Court is composed of five members who are appointed by the President of the Republic for renewable four-year terms. Upon request, the Court also renders advisory opinions. The Supreme Judicial Council oversees the judiciary and has the power to appoint, dismiss and transfer judges. The Minister of Justice chairs the Council. Source: UNDP (POGAR - Programme on Governance in the Arab Region) - Syria: Judiciary 2.4 Local Government The political development of Syria since the 1960s has strongly favored centralized planning and administration. Formal local government administration does exist at the provincial and municipal level. Syria is divided into 14 governorates and each is headed by governors appointed by the Ministry of Interior. These governors report directly to the president. The governors control provincial government offices as well as the local offices of ministries and state-owned enterprises. Below the provinces, there are, in descending order of authority, districts, counties, and villages. Locally elected administrative councils administer these governments, though in practice they remain highly dependent on central leadership. All government expenditures are included in one national budget produced by the Ministry of Finance. Local governments receive all operating funds from the central government and any excess revenues collected are returned to the national treasury. The electoral system for local elections divides elections into two categories: reserved seats for peasants, workers, and craftsman, and a residual category for all other peoples. Sixty percent of seats at the governorate and city levels are reserved, while at the town and village level a full seventy percent of seats are set aside. Source: UNDP (POGAR - Programme on Governance in the Arab Region) - Syria: Decentralization 8 3. The State and Civil Society 3.1 Ombudsperson Source: Institution - Title 3.2 NGOs Given the difficult political context for human rights initiatives in Syria, activities of international as well as local NGO’s have been and still are very limited. Syrian authorities closely restrict the operations of local NGO’s (they cannot directly access international funds) and the presence of international NGO’s is very limited. Source: EU (External Relations) - Country Strategy Paper 2002-2006 3.3 Civil Society Article 39 of the Syrian Constitution grants citizens the right to meet and demonstrate peacefully, in accordance with the law. So also the “popular sectors” may establish “unionist, social, professional organizations, and production cooperatives,” by virtue of Article 48 of the constitution. Article 49 further rules that such organizations must work towards building a socialist Arab society and defending its system; planning and guiding a socialist economy; and popularly supervising the machinery of government. A series of emergency laws, imposed in 1963, permit the government to act in many areas in the name of security. For a brief period after the accession to power of Bashar al-Assad in July 2000, informal groups met in private homes to discuss the economy, human rights, politics, and other topics. The president released 600 political prisoners on 16 November 2000, and scores of exiled members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood were allowed to return home, but the Emergency Laws remained in effect. In August 2001, authorities arrested ten opposition leaders, including two members of parliament, in August through November 2001. Riad Seif, a parliamentarian who had been granted some freedom to create a nascent opposition party, was indicted for holding a weekly forum in his home that gathered up to 400 people. In 2004, the Tharwa Project, based in Damasacus, began "addressing the concerns of the various ethnic and religious minorities inhabiting the Arab World," including those of Syrian Kurds. Article 38 of the constitution guarantees citizens the right to open expression and to “participate in supervision and constructive criticism in a manner that safeguards the soundness of the domestic and nationalist structure and strengthens the socialist system.” Moreover, the state law guarantees freedom of press, printing, and publication, in according with law. There are three Arabic and one English-language daily newspapers published in Syria, in addition to weekly publications. Licenses were also granted to three newspapers owned by officially recognized political parties and to the privately owned El Domari satirical magazine. All official political parties in Syria must be members of the National Progressive Front, which currently consists of nine member parties, the largest of which is the ruling Arab socialist Ba'th (Rebirth) Party. By law, the president of the republic is 9 also the head of the National Progressive Front and Secretary General of the Ba'th Party. Political parties are required to support the principles of the revolution, which include socialism and Arab nationalism. Under Syria’s corporatist system the General Federation of Trade Unions is the principal umbrella organization for trade and professional syndicates. Source: UNDP (POGAR - Programme on Governance in the Arab Region) - Syria: Civil Society (edited) 10 4. Civil Service A dministrative reform is a key area among the reforms that President Bashar AlAssad is envisaging. A special ministry is responsible for administrative reform. It has established reform units in key ministries and a comprehensive proposal for reform of public administration has been published. Source: EU (External Relations) - Country Strategy Paper 2002-2006 4.1 Legal basis Public Service Law No. 1 of 2 January 19858 Al-Jarida al-Rasmiya, 1985-01-23, N. 4, p. 95-153 Public Service Statute of 1985 Contains the conditions and the procedures regarding the nomination and assignment of positions. Envisages the rules and the basics of the system of vocational and administrative training. Indicates the criteria of evaluation of output and promotion. Contains provisions relating to the working conditions (duration of the work, vacation, hygiene and safety). Specifies the conditions of employment of women and teenagers. Source: International Labour Organization (NATLEX) - Syria: Public and Civil Servants 4.2 Recruitment Source: Institution - Title 4.3 Promotion Source: Institution - Title 4.4 Remuneration The State Ministry for Administrative Reform has prepared a broad strategy for civil service reform, as part of which public sector salaries were increased by 25%, the first such increase since 1994. Source: The Arab Banker - Opportunities in Syria's Economic Reforms (2001) 4.5 Training The National Institute of Administration opened in Damascus in February 2004. Source: ArabicNews.com - "A National Institute of Administration opened in Damascus" (2/12/2004) 4.6 Gender The Public Service Law of 1985 was amended in 2002 providing for, inter alia, full salary during maternity leaves: 8 Several amendments and implementing texts 11 Legislative Decree No. 35 of 20029 Al Jarida Al Rasmiyya, 2002-05-22, No.21, p. 1286 Decree amending article 54 of the Public Service Law No. 1 of 1985 and providing for full salary maternity leave for 120 days for the first child, 90 days for the second and 75 days for the third only. A nursing mother shall be entitled to a one hour nursing period per day until her baby reaches the age of one year. Source: International Labour Organization (NATLEX) - Syria: Public and Civil Servants Click here for Constitutional provisions regarding equal employment opportunities. 9 Amending the Public Service Law of 1985 12 5. Ethics and Civil Service 5.1 Corruption 2003 CPI Score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 10 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt). Corruption Perceptions Index Rank 2003 CPI Score Surveys Used Standard Deviation High-Low Range Number Inst. 90 percent confidence range Country 1 Highly clean 9.7 8 0.3 9.2 - 10.0 4 9.5 - 9.9 66 Syria 3.4 4 1.3 2.0 – 5.0 4 2.4 – 4.2 133 Highly corrupt 1.3 8 0.7 0.3 - 2.2 6 0.9 - 1.7 Source: Transparency International - Corruption Perceptions Index 2003 Surveys Used: Refers to the number of surveys that were used to assess a country's performance. 17 surveys were used and at least 3 surveys were required for a country to be included in the CPI. Standard Deviation: Indicates differences in the values of the sources. Values below 0.5 indicate agreement, values between 0.5 and c. 0.9 indicate some agreement, while values equal or larger than 1 indicate disagreement. High-Low Range: Provides the highest and lowest values of the sources. Number Institutions: Refers to the number of independent institutions that assessed a country's performance. Since some institutions provided more than one survey. 90 percent confidence range: Provides a range of possible values of the CPI score. With 5 percent probability the score is above this range and with another 5 percent it is below. In his inaugural address in 2000, President Bashar al-Assad stressed the importance of the fight against corruption.10 An anti-corruption campaign run by Bashar the same year sacked a relatively small number of high officials, including a former prime minister and a former deputy prime minister. A more recent anti-corruption campaign in late 2003 has removed dozens of public employees from the civil service and the military. The Syrian government runs anticorruption drives directly; there are currently no special bodies focusing on the issue. Source: UNDP (POGAR - Programme on Governance in the Arab Region) - Syria: Financial Management (edited) 5.2 Ethics Source: Institution - Title 10 EU (External Relations) - Country Strategy Paper 2002-2006 13 6. e-Government 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Ye m en Tu rk ey O Le ba no n n Jo rd a C Web Measure Index: A scale based on progressively sophisticated web services present. Coverage and sophistication of stateprovided e-service and e-product availability correspond to a numerical classification. m an 0 Sy ria The index is comprised of three sub-indexes: Web Measure Index, Telecommunications Infrastructure Index and Human Capital Index. e-Government Readiness Index Is ra el The index refers to the generic capacity or aptitude of the public sector to use ICT for encapsulating in public services and deploying to the public, high quality information (explicit knowledge) and effective communication tools that support human development. 6.1 e-Government Readiness yp ru s e-Government Readiness Index: Source: United Nations – World Public Sector Report 2003 Web Measure Index Telecom. Infrastructure Index Human Capital Index 1 0.9 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 m en Ye Tu rk ey O m an no n Le ba rd an Jo l Is ra e C yp ru s 0 ri a Primary indicators are: PC’s, Internet users, online population and Mobile phones. Secondary indicators are TVs and telephone lines. 0.7 Sy Telecommunications Infrastructure Index: A composite, weighted average index of six primary indices, based on basic infrastructural indicators that define a country's ICT infrastructure capacity. Source: United Nations – World Public Sector Report 2003 Human Capital Index: A composite of the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, with two thirds of the weight given to adult literacy and one third to the gross enrolment ratio. 14 6.2 e-Participation e-Participation Index 0.4 0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 e-information: The government websites offer information on policies and programs, budgets, laws and regulations, and other briefs of key public interest. Tools for disseminating of information exist for timely access and use of public information, including web forums, e-mail lists, newsgroups and chat rooms. Ye m en ey rk Tu an O m n ba no Le Jo rd an ra el Is C yp ru s 0 ria Refers to the willingness, on the part of the government, to use ICT to provide high quality information (explicit knowledge) and effective communication tools for the specific purpose of empowerring people for able participation in consultations and decision-making both in their capacity as consumers of public services and as citizens. Sy e-Participation Index: Source: United Nations – World Public Sector Report 2003 d e-information e-decision making e-consultation 8 7 6 5 4 3 1 Ye m en Tu rk ey an O m on Le ba n Jo rd an Is ra el 0 C yp ru s The government indicates that it will take citizens input into account in decision making and provides actual feedback on the outcome of specific issues. 2 Sy ria e-decision making: ource: United Nations – World Public Sector Report 2003 d e-consultation: The government website explains e-consultation mechanisms and tools. It offers a choice of public policy topics online for discussion with real time and archived access to audios and videos of public meetings. The government encourages citizens to participate in discussions. 15 6.3 ICT Click here for “Needs Assessments of Governance & Public Administration in Syria” partly focusing on the utilization of ICT. 16 7. Links 7.1 National sites Authority Topic Ministries http://www.syriagate.com/Syria/Government/Ministries.. Ministry of Information http://www.moi-syria.com/ Syria Today http://www.basharassad.org/ 7.2 Miscellaneous sites Institution Topic Arab Administrative Development Organization (ARADO) http://www.arado.org.eg/ Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development http://www.arabfund.org/ Arab Social Science Research http://www.assr.org/countries/syria/index.html European Union (EU) http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/syria/intro/index.htm International Labour Organization (ILO) http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.home United Nations in Syria http://www.un.org.sy/ United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) http://www.undp.org.sy/ UNDP - Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR) http://www.pogar.org/countries/index.asp?cid=19 UNPAN http://www.unpan.org/virtual_library-byregion.asp World Bank (WB) http://www.worldbank.org/sy 17