The Slovak Spectator: Whistleblowers’ ‘ambassador’: Without people’s support, whistleblowers can end up as martyrs

The Slovak Spectator: Whistleblowers’ ‘ambassador’: Without people’s support, whistleblowers can end up as martyrs

This article features Government Accountability Project’s Legal Director, Tom Devine, and was originally published here.

Tom Devine, a US advocate for whistleblowers, has helped thousands of whistleblowers in his long career but the Slovak government’s current attempts to strip police officer-whistleblowers of their right to protection is something that he has never seen before. The expert notes that the Fico government’s actions targeting a group of whistleblowing police officers are illegal.

In an interview with The Slovak Spectator, he also talks about cases he has worked on in the past, the importance of a whistleblower protection office, and why solidarity with whistleblowers matters.

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Have you witnessed a situation in which a government would withdraw the right of protection to police officers who become whistleblowers?

In 45 years working with whistleblowers, it’s unprecedented for the government to cancel anti-corruption rights for the police force. The situation in Slovakia is a new one for me.

The Slovak government says that police officer-whistleblowers don’t need any legal protection for reporting illegal activities as it’s their job to uncover them. Isn’t the government right?

Well, the police are required to be covered by whistleblower rights under the EU Whistleblower Directive. That was passed in 2019. It’s a legal requirement for all member nations of the EU. Twenty-four out of 27 member states have passed whistleblower laws to implement the directive. No other country has removed the police force from the law’s coverage because that would be flatly illegal. The EU Whistleblower Directive requires protection for all workers in the government, whether they’re civil servants or not. In fact, it requires protection for all citizens of the country, whether or not they work for the government. There’s no accountability loophole for law enforcement agencies.

The legislative proposal to remove the police is flatly illegal under the EU as a broad directive. There’s no other way to package it.

What would you then tell the minister? What should he do?

I would tell him that if he wants to gain confidence in fighting corruption, he has to obey the law about corruption fighters.

And if he refuses to?

If he doesn’t want to, there are legal actions that can be taken. The European Commission can take Slovakia to the European Court of Human Rights for violating the EU directive and organise the international community to challenge this abuse of power.

How familiar are you with the Slovak Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers?

I’ve studied the current law. The Government Accountability Project where I work is doing an assessment of all the European laws for compliance with the directive. And so I’ve studied Slovakia’s law and, you know, the legislation that’s been passed is a good-faith effort at complying with the directive. It’s not perfect. It’s a work in progress, but it’s an excellent foundation. The new government has just created a loophole in one of the cornerstones of the law. The point of whistleblower laws is to more effectively enforce the law. And if police officers whose job is law enforcement don’t have protection under the law, it severely handicaps that commitment.

The Slovak interior minister would probably disagree with you.