Integrity and public ethics was the theme of the UV-AVAF conference in the city of Alzira

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The Alzira House of Culture hosted the 3rd UV-AVAF Specific Conference, under the theme of “Public Integrity and Ethics”. The conference was held within the framework of the collaboration agreement signed between the Vice-rectorate for Territorial Projection and Society and today assumed by the Vice-rectorate for Culture and Society of the University of Valencia, with the collaboration of the Faculty of Law and the Alzira City Council.

It was opened by the mayor of Alzira, Diego Gómez García, and the director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Joan Llinares, who thanked the institutional collaboration of both the Alzira town council and the University of Valencia, which from prevention have made possible programs such as the of this day. He also thanked the availability and participation of Professor Villacañas and the rest of the speakers.

The main conference on “Corruption: a philosophical approach” was given by the Professor of Philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid, José Luis Villacañas Berlanga, accompanied at the table by Joan Llinares, director of the AVAF. Professor Villacañas started from philosophy to understand corruption, the fight against fraud and the control of actors endowed with power, and from this understanding generate common energies capable of repairing the world of shared life.

Corruption, far from being an opportunistic and circumstantial element in human action, can become systemic. It is precisely its expansive, invasive, totalizing and systemic aspect that must be explained in its essential elements.

Professor Villacañas explained what he calls the republican principle as the domain of the law, as an organizational principle intended to break the continuity of the holders of power in societies that make corruption normal, not recognizing autonomy and difference of the specific spaces of social life such as economic and political.

He concluded his presentation indicating that the indispensable condition to win the battle against corruption is the community of free men publicly linked to permanent institutions that do not allow themselves to be dominated, who fight for a way of living with dignity and cleanliness.

We invite you to listen to the conference at this link, as well as a short interview that was conducted on the same day.

In the first round table on ethics and responsibility in the exercise of public functions, the moderator was Víctor Almonacid, director of Prevention, Training and Documentation of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency. The Professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Valencia, Cristina García Pascual, began her speech by raising the need for ethical behavior and responsibility, following Hans Jonas in the principle of responsibility. He went on to point out four forms of non-compliance with good public service to illustrate the complexity of the issue and the need to promote appropriate strategies from the institutions to minimize irresponsible actions.

For her part, the director of the Foundation for Justice and vice-president of the Agency’s Participation Council, Ana María Fuertes Eugenio, based her speech on different studies on corruption, such as the one carried out by the IVIE, as well as other projects such as the Pact against Corruption and its evaluation, to show how organized civil society initiatives are taken to control and monitor political commitments in order to promote citizen trust in institutions.

The second table, moderated by Anselm Bodoque, head of the Agency’s Training Service, on ethics and public management, included the participation of Ana M. de la Encarnación Valcárcel, professor of Administrative Law at the University of Valencia, and Antonio Penadés Chust, President of Civic Action against Corruption and member of the Agency’s Participation Council.

Professor Ana M. de la Encarnación focused her presentation on ethics in public management, starting from some nonsense that can occur in practice, questioning ethics in the processes of access to the public function, performance ethics, as well as such as the acceptance of gifts. In the reflection, he relied on the code of conduct for public employees integrated in some articles of the EBEP.

For his part, Antonio Penadés emphasized the concept of general interest, referring to those actions that, being legal, do not respond to the general interest. And remembering the importance of institutions for citizenship. On the other hand, he pointed out the difficulty of support judges in large cases with very extensive summaries, to insist on the need for specialized courts.

The conference closed in Alzira with Ester Alba Pagán, Vice-Rector for Culture and Society of the University of Valencia. The Vice Chancellor thanked the possibility of carrying out activities such as this one, given that the University is a bearer of knowledge and values. He highlighted the value of the synergies of the different institutions and the academic reflection that the University contributes to society through activities such as this conference.

For his part, Joan Llinares thanked the necessary institutional collaboration to make possible conferences such as the one held in Alzira and raise awareness, from an academic discourse, of the necessary fight against corruption.

 

Conference: “Corruption, a philosophical approach”. Mr. Jose Luis Villacañas Berlanga

 

 

 

 

Unisocietat Quart de Poblet debate on ethics and public integrity

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The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency participated on May 11, 2022, in the Unisocietat training activity of the University of Valencia organized in Quart de Poblet to discuss ethics and public integrity.

This activity is carried out within the framework of the collaboration agreement between the Agency and the University of Valencia and aims to raise social awareness of collective ethics and the prevention of fraud and corruption in all areas of public life throughout the Valencian territory. .

The conference was given by the professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Valencia, Cristina García Pascual, who analyzed what is expected of public servants committed to the public good for decision-making with professionalism, transparency and responsibility. It developed the obligations that support public decision-making, insisting on article 8 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, on ethical behavior for the fulfillment of good public service.

The representative of the Agency, Marita Oliver, Training Technician, focused the intervention by explaining the functions and independence of the AVAF, as well as talking about the complaint’s mailbox and the protection of people who alert about corruption.

The conference was attended by 20 people and generated a debate about the difficulty of denouncing in structures as hierarchical as public administrations. The interventions of the attendees insisted on the weaknesses of good public service, as well as the social and economic costs of corruption.

AVAF’s first training experience in Compulsory Secondary Education. The IES Parra de Alzira is the first in the Valencian Community to hold the docuforum on ethics and public integrity.

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On May 11, 2022, the José María Parra Secondary Education Institute hosted the first docuforum learning experience in the ESO training stage. This has been the first held by the Valencian Antifraud Agency in the entire Valencian Community in this educational stage.

The activity took place in the town of Alzira (Ribera Alta), within the subject of economics with the collaboration of teachers Ana Vercher and Marina Nicola.

The students watched, in a first session, the Pandora Box docuforum “Corruption: Harmful Organism” and raised their doubts and questions about how corruption affects our society, what measures can be carried out to end it and from what kind of institutions.

The second of the sessions of the training experience, elaborated from the interests and doubts of the students, was directed by Pilar Moreno, training technician of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, present in the classroom.

After an introduction to the international and European organizations that have legislated in the area of prevention and fight against fraud and corruption, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, a public entity with its own legal personality and independent in nature, was presented to the young people, only attached to Les Corts.

After explaining the various functions carried out by the AVAF (Prevention, training, analysis, and investigation, among others), the 4th ESO students learned about the Agency’s complaints box, the issues they are most alerted to and the work that makes it unique to the Valencian Antifraud Agency, the protection of whistleblowers.

The students participated very actively in the debate on corruption and noted the negative consequences that impact their daily lives, such as the lack of resources to improve public services (education, health, social services…)

Among the questions asked by young people between the ages of 15 and 17, they highlighted their interest in finding out what they themselves can do to put an end to corruption and whether the measures implemented in the Valencian Community to reduce it had really had an impact.

The Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency initiates with this docuforum a new way through which it can bring the institution, its objectives and functions closer to Compulsory Secondary Education classes, with the aim of participating in the creation of a more informed youth in the fight against corruption, integrity and transparency.

If you are a university, secondary or high school teacher and you are interested in having the training activity “Docuforum on ethics and public integrity” carried out in the subject you teach, do not hesitate to contact the Training Service of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency at through formacion@antifraucv.es.