A key element of transparency and accountability is access to public information in the form of open data. After the imposition of martial law, valuable open data sets, on which the infrastructure of transparency and anti-corruption in Ukraine has been building for years, disappeared from public access.

The RISE Ukraine Coalition aims to support the recovery and modernization of Ukraine after the war and to increase the number of funds allocated for reconstruction, to ensure their transparent and effective use. Unfortunately, the achievement of this goal is currently under threat.

To actualize this issue, the Coalition members prepared a joint statement.

We believe that temporary restriction of access to certain information during the war can be justified, but it should be explained and meet clear criteria for determining security-sensitive information. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the approach of chaotic closure of access to open data.

We call on information managers to:

• Immediately restore access to priority datasets to the extent that they do not pose a security threat.
• Publish the justification of such decisions for information that poses a security threat and is withheld on this basis.

The RISE Ukraine Coalition has also formulated specific proposals to restore access to priority datasets.

Read the full text of the Open Statement of the Coalition at the link: https://bit.ly/3WX5Bs8