By KYIV. Jan 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The RISE Ukraine coalition, created for the effectiveness of the process of restoring Ukraine, calls for access to data, the disclosure of which does not threaten security, the coalition has said in an open statement on its website.
"RISE Ukraine Coalition was founded to support the recovery and modernization of Ukraine after the war. We also work to increase the number of funds allocated for reconstruction and ensure their transparent and effective use. Unfortunately, we have to state that the achievement of this goal is currently under threat. Accountable and transparent reconstruction depends on the availability of open data," the coalition said in the statement.
According to it, after the introduction of martial law, valuable sets of open data on which the infrastructure of transparency and anti-corruption in Ukraine was built for years disappeared from public access.
In particular, on February 24, 2022, access to the Open Data Portal was completely closed. In March 2022, by Resolution No. 263, the Cabinet of Ministers allowed limiting the operation of information systems, which was interpreted by some officials as the green light to stop the publication of data. And in April 2022, the Ministry of Justice issued an order to stop publishing information in open data format, RISE Ukraine said in the statement.
"Limitation of access to information occurred chaotically, without proper legal regulation and public discussion. This was justified in the first months of a full-scale invasion but is unacceptable ten months after the invasion began," the coalition said.
As it emphasized in the statement, Unreasonable hiding of public information in the form of open data: complicates the work of authorities, businesses, and public organizations; endangers transparent and accountable reconstruction; and reduces the trust of international partners, on whom coverage of the budget deficit depends.
In this regard, RISE Ukraine called on information managers to urgently restore access to priority data sets in an amount that does not pose a security threat; and for information that poses security threats and is hidden on this basis, to publicize the justification of such decisions.
The coalition also formulated proposals for resuming access to the Unified Public Register of Legal Entities, Sole Proprietors and Public Organizations, the Unified Public Register of Declarations of Persons Authorized to Perform the Functions of the State or Local Self-Government, and the Register of Persons Who Committed Corruption or Corruption-Related Offenses (register of corrupt persons), financial reporting of companies and the court register.
The creation of the RISE Ukraine Coalition (from Reconstruction Integrity, Sustainability and Efficiency) was announced at a conference in Lugano on July 5th. It brings together 40 Ukrainian organizations such as Dozorro, Center for Economic Strategy, Institute for Analytics and Advocacy, Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, Transparency International, BRDO working, among other things, on the development of open governance and the implementation of anti-corruption reform.
The RISE Ukraine said on its website that its principles are shared, in particular, by the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Energy, NACP, ProZorro and ProZorro.Sales. USAID, UKAID, Eurasia Foundation are also listed among the partners.
