Let’s cut all the emotion and put this into some sort of perspective.
Under the former Soviet system, any loose talk by an official, even accidental, could land him or her in a Siberian “holiday camp” with all the losses such imprisonment would include. That is one end of the scale, the other is anarchic freedom with no rules at allwhich is almost what we have today.
From my research it is clear that all civil servants working for anyEuropean or North American government are required by law to abide by a set of rules and regulations that set out in black and white theterms of their employment. Those terms are legally obligatory aswithout them government simply can not work.
Civil servants are what the name says; they are paid servants of society and as such it is their duty to serve the elected government of the day and the interests of the nation.
Ukraine needs professional administrators in all walks of government and as professionals they should work to professional standards and that includes ethics.
Interestingly the Ukraine Association of Public Relations has had a code of ethical practice for over a decade and the majority think itis a very good idea as it sets the standard of the membership. The same is true for the vast majority of corporations especially those such as consultancies or law firms where confidentiality is the very basis of the way they work.
I checked in detail the UK government’s 91-page Civil Service Management Code which forms the basis of all civil servicecontracts and there in clause 4.2 is virtually the same set of rules that the Ukrainian government are proposing.
It says: …that they are bound by the provisions of the criminal law, including the Official Secrets Acts, which protect certain categories of official information, and by their duty of confidentiality owed to the Crown…that they …must not, without relevant authorisation, disclose official information which has been communicated in confidence within government or received in confidence… and that… they must continue to observe this duty of confidentiality after they have left Crown employment.
Interestingly, the UK code is considerably more restrictive than that proposed for Ukrainian civil servants yet every single word has been agreed with the Civil Service trade unions that actively support the code as it gives a clear definition of the standards of behavior required ofcivil servants.
Yes…I can hear the clamour that the UK has courts and a functioning legal system and is not plagued to the same degree by corruption but thatin my opinion is a chicken and egg scenario. Should the Ukrainiangovernment put on hold implementing a Civil Service code of ethical practice until Ukraine has a properly functioning prosecution serviceand courts…? Certainly not as that is exactly what the corruptwant, more time to plunder.
Byintroducing a civil service management code, for whatever reason, you put those that seek to use the system for their own ends on noticethat there is now considerable risk to unacceptable behaviour. Controlling corruption is all about managing the risk/reward ratio. When the risks are high many will question whether the reward isworth it. When the risk is low…
Someclaim that this is a bid to stifle criticism and prevent whistleblowing but that too is more emotion than fact as the rules do notprevent any government official from reporting corruption or anyother crime to the proper authorities. True these authorities havebeen pretty useless in the past but not so today. The new policeforce is working effectively, there are now two anti-corruption agencies and soon Ukraine will have its own version of the FBI. The media, however, are not a proper authority they should be the lastresort when all other official methods have failed.
We have got so used to “trial by media” which sets a very dangerous precedent, particularly in a country where cheque-book journalism is an accepted practice and the majority of the media is owned by oligarchs with a vested interest in attacking the government. Yes it will make it more difficult for legitimate journalists to uncover wrongdoing but Ukraine will now be no different from the USA, the UK or the rest of the EU.
