On 22 January, 2020, the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence held the meeting of the working group which is working of the draft law on access to secret information. NAKO as the civil society organization partakes in the group to provide the optimal balance between secrecy and transparency.
The participants discussed the first 13 articles of the draft law and suggested the amendments. The next meeting of the working group is expected to take place at the end of February. In terms of the Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine’s East, the state clearly needs a higher level of secrecy to control sensitive information related to national security. However, it should not justify non-compliance of international best practices in secrecy classification. Excessive secrecy enables corruption, hinders effective policy-making and planning, and, ultimately decreases public trust of the government.
Previously NAKO presented a Secrecy Brief with the analysis of international principles and best practices to illustrate the direction that Ukraine should follow while reviewing the current system of classification and adjusting its legislation. The Brief also provides clear recommendations how to improve Ukraine’s Classification Regime.