SCOOP, together with the Southeast Europe Coalition on Whistleblower Protection successfully celebrated International Whistleblower Day and Free Speech Day on March 24, 2017 in Skopje. NGOs, activists and the media realized the importance of whistleblowers and expressed their support. Support also came from the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office whose head Katica Janeva was one of the speakers at the event. The event featured a meet-and-greet with whistleblowers, speeches by activists, a press conference, citizen speak-up, and live music with the Crossroad Blues Band.

“March 24, 2017 is a turning point for our efforts to push back against restrictive free speech and media laws,” said Aleksandar Bozhinovski, project manager and co-founder of the Center for Investigative Journalism SCOOP-Macedonia. “All citizens in Macedonia and throughout the world need to wake up and defend their basic human and civil rights.”

Speakers included Special public prosecutor Katica Janeva, whistleblower Simo Gruevski, International Team Leader of Civica Mobilitas, Petrus Theunisz and investigative journalist Zoran Ivanov, president of TI Slagana Taseva and longtime civic activist Dzabir Derala from Civil. Human rights activist and journalist Arzu Geybulla delivered a keynote speech on the growing challenges and dangers of investigative reporting and activism in Europe and around the world.

Coalition coordinators Mark Worth and Arjan Dyrmishi were present at the event. “Police cannot be everywhere, we do not want it to be everywhere. The media are not everywhere, they cannot be and we do not want them to be everywhere. So that is why whistleblowers are here”, – said Worth. Arjan Dyrmishi, initiator of the Law on Whistleblowing in Albania believes that the collapse of freedom of speech and the image of the country from partly free to not free, according to the index of freedom of speech, is the reason this International Whistleblower Day has been organized exactly in Skopje. “Media outlets have been closed and journalists have been persecuted and jailed. With this we want to give support to stop this trend and the country to restore media freedom”, – said Dyrmishi.

More information on the event:

https://en.scoop.mk/international-whistleblower-day-loudly-celebrated-in-skopje/

https://en.scoop.mk/skopje-hosts-international-whistleblower-day-march-24/