Embassy News

Visiting American Speaker Assists Embassy Transparency Initiative

From lef to right: Executive Director Steve Kohn, Dániel Izsák from weekly Figyelő, Pál Réti from weekly HVG and Gábor Horváth from daily Népszabadság  (full size photo)

From September 30 to October 2, the U.S. Embassy welcomed the visit of Steve Kohn, Executive Director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Whistleblower Center.  As part of an ongoing transparency initiative, and in response to a recommendation by Transparency International that Hungary adopt whistleblower protection laws, the Embassy arranged a two-day program for Kohn, one of the preeminent whistleblower experts in the U.S.

Kohn met with key Hungarian Parliamentarians, as well as the Justice and Economy Ministers, and also addressed a key interministerial committee working on anti-corruption, presented at an AmCham-sponsored breakfast and conducted a wide ranging discussion of the issue over lunch with senior editors from Hungary's leading news publications. 

The visit helped introduce and raise the profile of whistleblower protection as an important concept in improving public and private sector accountability and in combating corruption.