In 2024, the number of court decisions in favour of whistleblowers increased by 56% compared to 2023 (16 against 9), and the total amount of compensation paid to whistleblowers for violations of their labour rights amounted to UAH 2.56 million.
This is stated in the annual analysis of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) in the field of whistleblower protection for 2024.
Overall, the number of reports of corruption increased by 11% over the year, from 1,737 to 1,952, indicating growing public confidence in anti-corruption tools.
Other key achievements of whistleblowing in 2024 include:
- scaling up the possibility of safe and anonymous reporting of corruption for whistleblowers, which became possible thanks to the connection of organisations to the Single Portal for Whistleblower Reports (the number of organisations connected to the portal increased almost 83 times — from 95 at the beginning of 2024 to 7,904 at the end of the year);
- the first ever payments of rewards to whistleblowers in Ukraine (a total of around UAH 15 million) as a powerful financial incentive to expose corruption schemes.
"The annual analysis confirms the positive trends in the development of whistleblowing in Ukraine. And we must turn this progress into a stable practice. Our goal is to create an effective and understandable mechanism that not only protects whistleblowers but also motivates citizens to actively fight corruption. To do this, we need to solve a bunch of systemic problems, which this analysis has also pointed out,’ said Serhii Hupiak, Deputy Head of the NACP.
Among the challenges are the failure of some state bodies to comply with legal requirements to introduce mechanisms to encourage whistleblowers, inadequate recording of reports in the Single Portal, and low levels of legal awareness among citizens. Attempts to abuse the status of whistleblower for personal gain, which could discredit the institution of whistleblowing as a whole, were also noted.
To overcome these challenges and ensure the most effective protection of whistleblowers, NACP proposes a number of comprehensive changes, including:
- Accelerating court proceedings: creating mechanisms for the rapid reinstatement of whistleblowers and setting short deadlines for the consideration of such cases in court.
- Strengthening sanctions and introducing personal liability: introducing significant fines and criminal liability for employers for any form of persecution of whistleblowers. Holding not only legal entities but also specific officials accountable.
- Adaptation of best international practices for whistleblowing: percentage rewards for whistleblowing (US experience) or the creation of an independent body to consider whistleblower complaints (Norwegian experience).
- Raising awareness: launching large-scale information campaigns for citizens and businesses to raise their legal awareness and encourage them to take an active stance.
The National Agency calls on state bodies, business and civil society to cooperate in implementing the proposed changes.
