“Implementation of effective mechanisms aimed at the protection of whistleblowers is extreamly important from the point of view of the involvement of whistleblowers in the fight against corruption,” Anti-Corruption Expert Mariam Zadoyan said in the interview with Iravaban.net.
According to her, the main standards of guarantees for the protection of whistleblowers that have been developed by the international community for this purpose, include the features of the distribution of the burden of proof in the proceedings related to the protection of whistleblowers’ rights, non-disclosure of the whistleblower’s identity, protection of the whistleblower’s personal safety, exemption from responsibility related to whistleblowing, protection from all forms of harmful actions at the workplace and compensation for suffered losses, restoration of damages, provision of counseling and legal as well as social and psychosocial support to the whistleblower.
“As a result of the legislative changes that have been made in the Republic of Armenia in recent years, some of the mentioned mechanisms have been implemented in full, and some have been implemented partially or not implemented. The legislation of the Republic of Armenia corresponds to the international, in particular, the standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of the regulations on the distribution of the burden of proof, not revealing the whistleblower’s identity, protection from all forms of harmful actions at the workplace, providing advice and legal support to the whistleblower,” Mariam Zadoyan noted.
The following are problematic with regard to the regulations for providing advice and legal assistance to the whistleblowers in the RA:
⇒ Regulations for security protection of the whistleblower, since special protection, at least on the basis of the application of the HRD, is limited to the criminal dimension, as well as the general definition of the term “authority” receiving both external whistleblowing and special protection applications of the whistleblower,
⇒ Regulations of whistleblower disclaimers, as they exclude whistleblower’s protection in case of prohibited uses of confidential information,
⇒ Regulations for providing financial compensation for the damages caused to whistleblowers, as there is no clearly and unequivocally established possibility, procedure and conditions for providing the latter,
⇒ Regulations on the possibility of restoring the whistleblowers’ violated labor rights, because the current regulations are restrictive in nature and cannot be applied to situations where the termination of employment was formally carried out on the grounds and procedure established by law, and not by the motive of revenge.
In addition the RA Legislation does not provide for the guarantees of additional protection of whistleblowers known in international, and in particular in the EU practice:ասին։
⇒ Regulations providing for the requirement to obtain the approval of the Whistleblower Protection Office before adopting a labor act qualified as a potentially harmful action against the whistleblower as a result of the whistleblowing (Slovakia);
⇒ Publicity and transparency regulations for holding a disciplinary meeting in order to apply a measure of responsibility against the whistleblower as a potentially harmful action as a result of whistleblowing, which include: publishing an announcement on the holding of a meeting at the whistleblower’s request on the official website at least three working days before the meeting, inviting the representatives of press, trade union, professional association or workers to the meeting, and in case of non-compliance with these requirements, determination of the nullity of the action against the informant (Romania):
⇒ Regulations providing for provisional protection mechanisms for the whistleblower, for example, the suspension of the decision/act aimed at dismissal or transfer to a lower position, taken by the employer against the whistleblower as harmful actions, until the end of the case proceedings (for example, Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, which stipulates that an individual who meets the conditions of protection provided by the Directive, is protected from any form, threat or attempt of harmful actions, Ukraine).
⇒ Regulations providing mechanisms for the provision of psychosocial support to the whistleblower (e.g. Slovakia, Ukraine), which entails the organization and funding of meetings for whistleblowers with career guidance specialists and psychotherapists.
⇒ Regulations providing for the participation of the Whistleblower Protection Office in court proceedings related to whistleblowers as an independent advisor body.
Mariam Zadoyan also notes that in practice the majority of the mentioned protection guarantees are not fulfilled, which indicates the low level of public trust in the whistleblowing institute.
Citizens can openly and anonymously report corruption and other cases on Haytnir.am online whistleblowing platform. Submitting an application is free.
Please note that this publication was prepared within the framework of the program “Multifaceted Whistle-Blowing Promotion in Armenia”, implemented by the “Armenian Lawyers Association” (ALA) NGO with the support of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), funded by the European Union (EU) within the framework of the “EU for Good, Eastern Partnership” project.
This publication expresses the position of the author, the ALA, which does not necessarily coincide with the position of the OGP and the EU.