SOLID – a program to strengthen whistleblower’s protection
“Integrity requires solidarity” – SOLID – a program to strengthen whistleblower’s protection
Duration of the project: 2021-2022
Partners: APADOR-CH and ActiveWatch
The goal: public awareness of the role of integrity warners (whistleblowers) in Romanian society and strengthening this role by creating an effective protection system, in collaboration with state institutions and the private sector.
The objectives:
- Promote the correct transposition of the EU Integrity Warners Directive in order to encourage democratic participation and the defense and promotion of freedom of expression in the form of the integrity warning.
- Identifying the needs of whistleblowers and developing a resource center to provide them with legal and psychological support
- Increasing the level of knowledge and understanding of the role of the whistleblowers, at the level of the Romanian society.
At the global level, the contribution of whistleblowers to putting on the public agenda information of public interest, which reveals human rights violations, violations of the law, corruption acts, has increasingly raised the need for public action in order to ensure their protection against the sanctions, harassment or marginalization to which they may be subjected. A direct consequence of this need for public action is the adoption by the European Council and the European Parliament in 2019 of the European Directive (hereinafter the Directive) on the protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law. Romania, similar to other Member States, has two years to transpose the provisions of the Directive into national law, the deadline being December 17, 2021.
The transposition time-frame into national law is an opportunity for civil society organizations and other interested stakeholders to contribute to the adoption of national legislation in accordance with EU law and at the same time putting an important subject on the public agenda. The project aims to contribute to the efficient transposition of the Directive, a process which also involves the creation of legislative and social frameworks in which Romanian whistleblowers feel safe and benefit from protection and support and in which the warning activity that they carry out does not affect their personal/professional lives negatively. Through a system of protection, support and encouragement of the whistle blowers, the project aims to increase the level of integrity in the public administration and the degree of responsibility and accountability of public and political servants, to encourage the warning of irregularities within state institutions and private law organizations that harm the public interest and also to contribute to increasing the efficiency and the transparency in the public sector.
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Working together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe
The project is implemented by APADOR-CH and ActiveWatch and benefits from a 95.754 euros grant from Active Citizens Fund Romania, programme funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants Grants 2014 -2021. The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the official position of the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021; for more information visit www.eeagrants.org. More details about Active Citizens Fund Romania are available at www.activecitizensfund.ro