As part of the fight against corruption, the Ministry of Justice launched a nationwide awareness program on communication activities of the Whistle-Blowing System for the 2023 and a large-scale awareness campaign aimed at the implementation of the program. On 29 November, the official launch of the program entitled event “Promotion and Active Use of the Whistle-Blowing System” took place.

Ms Syuzanna Soghomonyan, the Anti-Corruption Expert of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, CSF ANP WG1 Coordinator, spoke about the problem of negative public attitude towards whistleblowers, noting that there is a misunderstanding about the whistle-blowing system. “We have inherited a legal mindset from the Soviet era that whistleblowers are considered ‘snitchers.’ The first problem that we should be able to overcome is that this should be removed from everyday conversation. The important thing is that the composition of the subjects of perception change should be not only the ordinary citizen, but also the representative of the law enforcement agency, the public servant, so that the latter are on the same level with the public and vice versa, we should create such an image that the whistleblower is an honest citizen who cares for the state.” Syuzanna Soghomyan said.

According to the Anti-Corruption Expert, public awareness is important. “It is necessary to work with people using all publicly available methods, to inform about the possibilities of reporting that exist in the RA today, about reporting platforms that can ensure both the safety and privacy of a person. In other words, the whistleblower must be sure that in case of whistleblowing, the state stands behind him/her with its security guarantees and under no circumstances can he/she become a victim of harmful actions and reprisals,” the expert concluded.

Details in the video.