Improving whistle-blowing mechanisms, ensuring anonymity — New components of nationwide campaign considered

The Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with the Armenia Integrity Project of the United States Agency for International Development and the German Society for International Co-operation, organised a meeting for co-ordination of a nationwide whistle-blowing campaign aimed at strengthening joint efforts to promote whistle-blowing.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister of Justice Karen Karapetyan noted that public intolerance towards corruption — one of the priorities of the Government's policy — remains one of the major cornerstone of combating corruption, which implies not only ideological support from the society, but also a proactive response to corruption-related phenomena. The Deputy Minister emphasised that, from the perspective of the realisation of this idea, the whistle-blowing institution has its special place which, in modern democratic societies, is an important and active mechanism for combining the efforts of the society and the State in combating corruption.

Karen Karapetyan informed that further improvement of the whistle-blowing system is one of the key and cornerstone components of the Government's anti-corruption policy, for the purpose of which relevant measures are envisaged under the 2023-2026 Anti-Corruption Strategy and the Action Plan arising from the Strategy.

The Deputy Minister of Justice expressed hope that the joint efforts of the Government and the civil society will contribute to not only the functioning of a whistle-blowing system, but also to the shaping of intolerant attitude towards corruption in general.

The event intended to bring together stakeholders playing a key role in the anti-corruption field in order to predetermine a framework for the implementation of joint actions aimed at strengthening the whistle-blowing system in Armenia. The co-ordination event served as a platform for considering legal regulations for the protection of whistle-blowers, as well as for raising awareness about the whistle-blowing system.

Representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Anti-Corruption Committee, the "Public Relations and Information Centre" SNCO, other interested bodies, as well as civil society organisations with years of experience in combating corruption, and international organisations engaged in the whistle-blowing campaign, participated in the meeting.

The attendees of the co-ordination meeting emphasised the need to organise such events, attaching importance to the implementation of co-ordinated and targeted events from the perspective of awareness-raising — a goal that the campaign pursues.