On July 7, NAKO and ACREC conducted a round table entitled Whistleblower Channels and Draft Law on the Safety of Classified Information. The event was a part of the third annual conference Corruption Whistleblowers in Ukraine: Successes and Challenges. Svitlana Musiiaka, NAKO Head of Research and Policy, became the moderator.
The main topics included discussion of the draft law “On the Safety of Classified Information,” efficient work of corruption whistleblower institute, and the culture of respect of whistleblowers and protection of their rights.
The event was visited by compliance officers, judges, attorneys, representatives of NGOs, whistleblowers, Ukrainian and international experts, including MP's of Ukraine, head of the work group for the draft law “On the Safety of Classified Information” Fedir Venislavskyi, Executive Director of ACREC Oksana Nesterenko, Head of the Department of Minimizing the Corruption Risks and Anti-Corruption Expertise of NAPC Olena Kryvoshei, representatives of NAPC, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, the Anti-Corruption Action Center, and other NGOs.
Based on the discussion, the participants stressed the necessity of adding the provisions to the draft law on the protection of whistleblowers who disclose the information which constitutes a state secret. It encompasses the creation of channels for these notifications, criminal prosecution for providing information on possible instances of corruption, and increased parliamentary control in this domain.
After the round table, the participants appealed for the people’s deputies of Ukraine and the committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to demonstrate reasonability and arrange for justified offers for the experts to improve the draft law. The representatives of the public authorities gave a positive feedback.
Recording of the event is available at the link: bit.ly/44hZK4y