On 03 December 2020 the Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) organised a webinar to discuss the framework for whistleblower protection in Kyrgyzstan, covering the business sector. The webinar brought together the authorities of Kyrgyzstan involved in the implementation of the 2019 Law “On the protection of persons reporting corruption offences”, namely the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Business Ombudsman’s Office, the Ministry of Interior, the State Service for the Fight against Economic Crime, the Government Secretariat and the State Committee of National Security, as well as national business associations.
The participating authorities benefited from the contributions of the Council of Europe experts, who provided an overview of international standards, including of the Council of Europe Recommendation CM / Rec (2014) 7 on Protection of Whistleblowers and of the EU Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law as well as of best practices on whistleblower protection. The Council of Europe experts as well as formulated recommendations for improvement of the existing legislation and implementation practices.
The webinar provided an opportunity for fruitful exchanges. The national stakeholders outlined a number of existing challenges in the field of implementation of the whistleblower protection law, such as lack of effective reporting channels, lack of positive experience with handling deliberately false reports, lack of effective mechanisms of protection against retaliation and a broader challenge of negative connotation of whistleblowing in the society. The Council of Europe experts, while suggesting recommendations on overcoming the existing practical shortcomings, also outlined the substantial weaknesses of the framework itself, such as the issue of compensation of losses and damages resulting from whistleblowing, the personal scope of the law, which does not cover private sector employees or businesses, and the status of whistleblowers in current legislation. The webinar has created a good ground for further cooperation as the topic will be further developed within the project.
The webinar was organised within the framework of the CoE/EU project “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime” – part of the broader Central Asia Rule of Law Programme. The project aims at strengthening capacities to fight and prevent economic crime in five Central Asian countries, including Kyrgyzstan.