Abu Dhabi Draws Flack After Blocking Prominent Anti-Corruption Journalist From UN Conference On Graft

https://ift.tt/2ExypRu The wisdom of holding a major UN anti-coruption conference in the UAE has been called into question, after the authorities detained a leading anti-graft journalist at Abu Dhabi airport and denied him entry to the country, where he was due to speak at the event. Stevan Dojčinović, founder and editor-in-chief of the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) in Serbia, was detained at Abu Dhabi International airport on December 17. After 12 hours of detention, he was put on a return flight to Belgrade. Dojčinović had flown to the UAE capital to take part in the Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), where he was to appear on a panel dealing with the topic: New approaches in addressing cross-border corruption, money laundering and organised crime. He had an official invitation letter and was registered to attend the conference as a member of the delegation of the UNCAC Coalition, a network of over 350 civil society organisations tackling corruption around the world. The panel discussion went ahead anyway, with an empty chair left for Dojčinović. His enforced absence was highlighted by fellow campaigners and journalists, including investigative reporter Šarūnas Černiauskas who tweeted his Serbian colleague had been “thrown out of Abu Dhabi like some criminal”. Today In: Business “Dojčinović being prevented from speaking at the CoSP undermines the credibility of the conference, which is supposed to advance the global anti-corruption agenda and the implementation of the convention,” said David Banisar, chair of the UNCAC Coalition. The episode also drew criticism from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), for which Dojčinović is also a regional editor. The OCCRP said it was “outraged” by his detention and expulsion. It said airport police had told Dojčinović that immigration authorities had barred his entry due to his appearance on an unspecified “international blacklist.”