The coalition of Initiative11 continues to work on creation of effective legal guarantees to protect whistleblowers of Ukraine.

Ukrainian League of Lawyers for Corruption Combating and Media Law Institute invited the representatives of the organization Blue Print for Free Speech that is a partner of Initiative11 to discuss with the Ukrainian experts the drafted legislation on whistleblowers” protection and to share the best international practices in this area.

On 16 March 2016 in the office of the Reanimation Package of Reforms the executive director of Blue Print for Free Speech Suelette Dreyfus and the Head of Research Simon Wolfe expressed their stance on legislative guarantees that have to exist for an effective protection of whistleblowers in Ukraine.

Moreover, Suelette Dreyfus pointed out the necessity for whistleblowers to make their own decisions regarding a channel of information disclosure. She considers that it will stimulate the governmental authorities and private corporations to create reliable internal channels for information disclosure in order to prevent “trashing” outside of the organization.

Suelette Dreyfus said that the establishment of prejudicial mechanisms to protect whistleblowers can provide true operational protection of whistleblowers from persecution at the workplace.

In turn, Simon Wolfe stressed the need to establish mandatory financial incentives for exposure to encourage ordinary citizens to unmask wrongdoings.

The representatives of Blue Print for Free Speech highlighted that the law has to be clear, comprehensive and contain broad-spectrum of possible guarantees to protect whistleblowers. Moreover, it is essential not to repeat the mistakes of other countries that adopted the laws earlier. As an example, it is important for the law to protect not only people who disclosed the information by the nature of their duties but also others who participated in the information disclosure or helped to unmask the information.

In general, the experts of the Reanimation Package of Reforms and Initiative11 participated in the meeting.