The Council of Europe, in close collaboration with the National Anticorruption Centre of the Republic of Moldova, organized a series of training events focused on the protection of whistleblowers dedicated to the employees of the Police, Border Police and the Internal Protection and Anti-Corruption Service (Ministry of Internal Affairs). The events aimed to enhance the knowledge and competences of the law enforcement officers on the whistleblowing procedures and protection measures, stemming from the requirements of the legislative provisions of the Republic of Moldova in this field.
These events also provided participants with important insights on international best practices on the management and protection of individuals who come forward to report suspected illicit activity, ensuring that strong measures are applied to prevent the occurrence of retaliatory action being taken against such reporting parties.
With the adoption of a new law on the protection of whistleblowers in October 2023, the Republic of Moldova is progressing its work to ensure the appropriate and effective implementation of its requirements by public authorities and their employees. These measures include capacity-development in levels of understanding about the purpose of whistleblowers mechanisms, access to reporting mechanisms and the management of reports when received.
The training event provides substantial support to the Republic of Moldova’s efforts to implement the recommendations received from GRECO in its 5th evaluation round and represents an essential step towards supporting Moldova’s law enforcement agencies are well-equipped to handle whistleblowing cases, protect whistleblowers, and improve the country’s overall anti-corruption framework.
In parallel and in close cooperation with the National Anticorruption Center, the project is developing guidelines for registering and handling whistleblowing reports to enable the national authorities to enforce the law effectively, create robust internal reporting systems and more effectively identify possible corruption through this important detection mechanism.
This support is provided within the framework of the project “Action against Corruption in the Republic of Moldova (Phase 2)”, funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the US Department of State and implemented by the Council of Europe.
