Over the year, whistleblowers reported corruption 3.8 thousand times through the Single Portal
Kyiv • UNN
The NACP has summarized the results of the work of the Single Whistleblower Reporting Portal for the year. The portal received over 3.8 thousand reports and became an effective mechanism for protecting whistleblower rights.
During the year of operation of the Unified Whistleblower Reporting Portal launched by the NACP, more than 3.8 thousand reports were received. UNN writes about this with reference to the NACP website.
Details
The digital service has demonstrated its effectiveness by providing real-time analytical data on the situation with corruption reports in the country, as well as ensuring confidentiality and anonymity of whistleblowers. The portal has become the most effective mechanism for whistleblowers to receive timely protection of their rights
The practical use of the Portal has shown that it needs to be improved, the agency believes. The NACP is correcting the system's shortcomings in cooperation with the public and government sectors. In particular, in order to optimize the process of connecting organizations to the Portal, the procedure for its maintenance and the order of connection of organizations were changed in April 2024.
In addition, the public part of the Portal has been changed, a new search filter for connected organizations has been introduced, a number of technical errors that occurred when submitting notifications have been fixed, etc. The design is also planned to be redesigned to meet the requirements for inclusiveness and a simplified procedure for submitting and accepting notifications by authorized users.
In total, over 3.8 thousand reports were submitted to the Portal during the year, but the main purpose of its functioning is not to generate massive appeals, but to create a culture of whistleblowing, which involves a gradual reduction of corruption at all levels
Among the challenges facing the institution of whistleblowing, the NACP cites the elimination of gaps and discrepancies in legislation, as well as improving communication with society to develop conscious manifestations of responsible and virtuous behavior in the face of corruption.
In particular, to unify the concept of a whistleblower, it is planned to introduce a definition of this term in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The procedure for obtaining confirmation of a person's status as a whistleblower and the procedure for appealing relevant decisions also need to be regulated. Procedures for protecting whistleblowers and providing them with legal assistance also require high-quality regulation.
A separate issue is ensuring the payment of remuneration to whistleblowers. The absence of a proper legal procedure for such payment should not affect the possibility of exercising the whistleblower's right guaranteed by law
It is noted that the NACP is working in this direction together with the Cabinet of Ministers, the Treasury Service, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy.
In addition, the National Agency, together with the USAID and FCDO project "Promoting Integrity in the Public Sector" (Pro-Integrity), has started working on two main vectors: proposing changes to legislation to ensure the proper functioning of the whistleblowing institution within the current concept and implementing a high-quality communication strategy with society to develop a whistleblowing culture.
The implementation of these tasks will create a solid foundation for further conceptual changes and expansion of the whistleblowing institution as provided for in EU Directive 2019/1937 of 23.10.2019.
Therefore, the NACP calls on all stakeholders to actively join the initiated processes. The NACP has a principled position on protecting the rights and guarantees of whistleblowers and welcomes the initiative of employees of organizations that have chosen to fight corruption and not tolerate any of its manifestations.
Recall
The NACP checked 1236 reports of political parties for 2020-2024 and found violations in 466 of them. It has drawn up 81 reports on administrative violations, and is preparing more than 300 more.
