On 24th April of this year, the Secretariat of Transparency led the forum “Protection for Corruption Whistleblowers”, which opened the discussion about the characteristics to be taken into consideration in the construction of the draft law that the body is putting forth on this subject.

Regarding the meeting, Transparency Secretary Camilo Enciso stated that "it is part of the Colombian government's efforts to promote an environment that is favourable to reporting corruption, and to involve society as a whole and the private sector in efforts to fight corruption. These can only be successful if all Colombians reject these practices and fight them together".

The forum, which was supported by the European Union's EUROsociAL programme, had Mark Worth, an investigative reporter and international expert on the issue, as a special guest. “Worldwide, 15% of countries have whistleblower-protection laws, and it's very interesting to see how governments enter into the logic of protecting people who are often times denouncing them, said Worth, who also shared aspects of the laws of other countries, such as the United States, which has a policy of rewards.

The Executive Director of Transparency for Colombia, Elisabeth Ungar, made a call in her speech for creation of a robust and accessible mechanism: “we must do more work to publicise the laws. It does no good if citizens don't know what laws they have and how to use them”. Ungar also indicated the commitment that the private sector must generate in response to these government initiatives. A call that was seconded by Germán Bacca, the delegate for the protection of competition of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce, who related how, since 2009, with Law 1340, the agency has gotten up to speed to fight cartels in the private sector, such as the ones involving diapers and school notebooks, which were reported by the news media. “The main strategy for fighting these structures was to get up to date ourselves, to use the same tools they're using. Collusion is the first cousin of corruption”, he asserted.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Ecopetrol, Petrotiger and Cementos Argos; and of the National Protection Unit (UNP), the Attorney General of the Republic, the General Prosecutor of the Nation, the Ministry of Labour, and the Administrative Department of Public Service (DAFP). 

The forum was supported by EUROsociAL II and the ACTUE Colombia project, the Anti-Corruption and Transparency programme of the European Union for Colombia, which is being implemented by the FIIAPP within the framework of a delegation agreement with the European Union.