18 May
A workshop on drafting a whistle-blower protection law was held at Grand Amara Hotel yesterday morning.
Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman U Aung Kyi first delivered a speech. He said Myanmar signed the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) in December 2012 and was brought into effect starting from January 2013.
The ACC Chairman read Article 33 of the UNCAC which says: “Protection of reporting persons—Each State Party shall consider incorporating into its domestic legal system appropriate measures to provide protection against any unjustified treatment for any person who reports in good faith and on reasonable grounds to the competent authorities any facts concerning offences established in accordance with this Convention.”
He said objective 1/4 of the Strategic Plan for Anti-Corruption (2018-2021) includes plans to establish legal protection mechanisms for whistle-blowers and the deadline is slated as 2019-2020.
U Aung Kyi said this law is not just for combating against corruption. He said it will be equally important in government departments and public-oriented organizations when people expose money laundering, drug and human trafficking, counterfeiting food and drugs, technological fraudulence, sexual assault, blackmail and nepotism.
He said we must bravely expose cases of corruption to establish a good administration system and institutions and we must do them now to expect good results in the next decade. He urged the workshop attendees to put in their best efforts to revitalize the integrity of the civil servant workforce.
Next, Ms. Marie Pegie Cauchois from the UNODC Country Office explained that whistle-blower protection supports initial investigations and taking action. She said it protects whistle-blowers from revenge and promotes the emergence of such a law in line with Article 33 of UNCAC. She said people will only come out to expose crime if protection for them exists and welcomed the workshop as a first step towards that cause, adding that they provide whatever aid necessary.
The workshop then commenced. Attending the workshop were the Chairman, secretary and members of the Anti-Corruption Commission, external legal experts, officials from UNODC, UNDP and Union Ministries, journalists and invited persons.—MNA (Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)
