(19 February 2021) Together with a group of organisations that defend whistleblowers and the Whistleblowers International Network (WIN), EPSU has demanded the Ukrainian President to reverse amendments that would weaken a law that protects whistleblowers. Members in the Ukrainian parliament are seeking to weaken this law risking the lives of whistleblowers.
The Ukraine adopted landmark anti-corruption legislation in December 2019. It included whistleblowing protection provisions which were unsurpassed in their compliance with international best practices principles. The Ukrainian Parliament adopted amendments that if implemented would effectively remove protection from whistleblowers when reporting information within the institutions they are employed. No anti-corruption campaign can be credible or effective without whistleblowing protection. The new amended law would not be not consistent with the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation on the protection of whistleblowing, European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence, the recently adopted EU Directive on the protection of persons reporting breaches of
Union law, or basic tenets of international best practices principles for whistleblowing protection. Specific concerns relate to:
1. Prohibitive conditions for protected disclosure:
2. Removal of internal reporting channels: This goes against the EU directive.
3. Requirement to reveal confidential sources: Also this goes against the EU directive
The EU and the Ukraine have a Deep and Comprehensive Trade Agreement. Ukraine should come closer to EU legislation, not move away from it. EPSU notes that the Ukrainian Parliament has made other attempts to make matters worse for working people for example with its attacks on the trade unions and reform of the labour law.
The letter to the President of the Ukraine
EPSU welcoming the EU Law on Whistleblowing protection
For work of EPSU on corruption, transparency and whistleblowing
For Whistleblowing International Network www.whistleblowingnetwork.org
Ukraine
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