Report by Afsar Jatoi and Syeda Anmol Ali

Transparency International Pakistan organized a one-day Sindh Youth Anti-Corruption Conference in Karachi highlighting the role of youth in promoting transparent, accountable, and good governance.

The conference, held on July 6, 2023 at a local hotel, was participated by more than 100 students from different universities from across Sindh, along with a number of legislators, academics, policymakers, government officials, and social activists.

Transparency International is the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption.

The conference started with opening remarks by Kashif Sheikh, the country director of Transparency International, who illustrated the visions, goals, and achievements of the organization against corruption.

The themes around the axis of good governance, right to information, social accountability, transparency, youth leadership and integration, and women’s participation were explored.

Professor Nausheen Wasi from Karachi University gave an overview of the characteristics, challenges, and hardships surrounding the idea of good governance. In a nutshell, she argued that until the country lacks ownership of the institutions, good governance cannot be achieved.

Dr. Muhammad Ali Shaikh, a former Vice Chancellor, elaborated the article-19 of the constitution of Pakistan which gives every citizen the right to information (RTI) and explained the process through which a citizen can demand access to information from any organization, whether it is governmental or nongovernmental. He emphasized the importance and value of this law which can be a very effective tool in the fight against corruption. “If the given institution or organization does not provide information regarding the given project and proceeding, which happens all the time, a citizen can report against them in the information commission and if their issue is not resolved, there exist several civil organizations who can aid a citizen to take that department to the court.”

Syed Hussain Haider, Integrity Expert, UNODC Pakistan, drew attention to the issue of voiceless segments of society and evoked youngsters to speak up against oppression and exploitation and become leaders of change.

The session on the protection of women’s rights and their participation in the political process was centered round the importance of women’s participation and their role in the fight against corruption.

Marvi Awan, Executive Director, WPC Sindh, underscored goal number 5 of 17 Social Development Goals (SDGs) which emphasized gender equality. “Without gender equality, all efforts are in vain,” said the young women’s rights activist.

“Until the women are not given the right to decision making and right to movement, their freedom cannot be achieved and their participation cannot be assured.”

Ahmed Hassan, a Monitoring and Evolution Expert, UNDP SDGS support unit, Sindh talked about ‘Youth-driven governance: empowering agent of transparency and accountability for monitoring evaluation’;

Hammad Amjad, a youth trainer and corporate consultant spoke on Youth Leadership and Integrity.

Justice (R) M. Shaiq Usmani, former judge, Sindh High Court, talked about ‘Democracy and rule of law through participation of young people’;

Officials of National Accountability Bureau gave an overview of NAB’s efforts in the fight against corruption while Imran Riaz, Additional Director, FIA Karachi spoke on FIA efforts in fight against corruption.

As the conference was focused mainly on youth, many participatory activities and sessions were organized where youngsters brainstormed and came up with creative ideas to combat corruption, promote accountability and good governance.

Indeed, there is much more to do to empower youth than just a conference but programs like this gathering should be seen as a start of a new era where the youth take the leadership role and make decisions for themselves and the country because the youth are not the future of the country but they are the present reality

The conference discussed current issues, corruption of different kinds, what we have to focus on and how should we fight against them all? How can we as students challenge this corruption?

A socialization opportunity was provided through this conference.

The purpose of this conference was not for any personal benefit. It was a step for those who cannot fight their own battles. But what we felt was lacking was a discussion on transgender, with whom all kinds of personal, social and emotional corruption are done. A small example is enough that the transgender cannot even use public washrooms freely. Ladies want to see them in gents and gents want to see them in the ladies toilet. Who can do more corruption than this?

Apart from this, the importance of youth power was mentioned in the conference. How to set goals, how to achieve them, and how to use that power everything was explained.

Different groups were formed for brainstorming and each group was given a different topic. Each topic was related to youth and after group discussion, each group had to make two points according to their topic. _____________

Afsar Jatoi is a BS student of Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan

Syeda Anmol Ali is 3rd year student of Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Sindh, Jamshoro 

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