The report lacks information on the application of the Law on Whistleblower Protection.
Transparency International – Macedonia expresses the need for a public reaction regarding the Report on the work of the Public Prosecutor’s Offices in the Republic of North Macedonia for 2023. Considering the Law on Whistleblower Protection, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is assigned the authority to establish a secure channel for external reporting by whistleblowers. Additionally, according to the law, the Prosecutor’s Office is one of the institutions responsible for providing protection against any kind of violation of rights, harmful action, or the risk of such actions due to protected internal and external reporting or protected public disclosure.
The latest annual report for 2023, which was publicly disclosed and submitted to the Assembly, does not contain any information related to whistleblowers.
An additional piece of information that should be publicly disclosed and easily accessible to whistleblowers is the information about the designated persons responsible for receiving whistleblower reports within the institution. Such information is either missing or possibly positioned in a way that is not easily visible on the official website of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of North Macedonia, as a body with the authority to prosecute perpetrators of criminal offenses and combat corruption in the country, can significantly contribute to the protection of whistleblowers. Therefore, we believe that it is of exceptional importance for this institution to actively engage in promoting the protection of whistleblowers and their significance in society.
Transparency International – Macedonia believes that the role of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in ensuring whistleblower protection is of exceptional importance, and for these reasons, we propose greater transparency, simplification, and increased accessibility to the external reporting channel within the institution. Such weaknesses were also identified by Transparency International – Macedonia in the National Integrity System, where one of the recommendations to the Public Prosecutor’s Office was the need to establish a protected channel for whistleblower reporting based on the Law on Whistleblower Protection.
Aware that the institution faces a lack of both human and financial resources, we call on the Assembly and the Government, particularly the Ministry of Finance, to provide funds that would help overcome such conditions. Furthermore, Transparency International – Macedonia appeals for the continuation of the process of adopting the new Law on Protected Reporting and Whistleblower Protection, which is an important tool in combating corruption.
The fight against corruption and organized crime is in the interest of all stakeholders in society, and we remain committed to continuously and diligently working together to reduce it.
