Enhancing whistle-blower protection

Whistleblowers play a key role in exposing corruption and other irregularities that threaten the public interest. By disclosing information about irregularities, they have helped save countless lives and billions of euros of public money. But whistleblowers often face serious personal risks. As a result, there are fewer reports and consequently fewer detected cases of corruption and harmful unethical practices – and this poses a risk to society as a whole. Protecting whistleblowers from unfair treatment, including retaliation, discrimination or harm, can encourage people to report irregularities.

The project aims to strengthen the protection of whistleblowers in Slovenia. It will provide relevant information to potential whistleblowers through an online campaign, including the information on the whistleblower's legal rights and the possibilities of safely disclosing suspicions of irregularities in the public interest. We will also strengthen the operation of the Spregovori! Center (Speak Up! Center). This is a line for disclosing suspicions of irregularities in the public interest, which has been operating within TI Slovenia since 2014. Center Spregovori!  will provide support to whistleblowers in cooperation with qualified law students of the Faculty of Law, primarily through legal advice and referrals to competent institutions. The students will be mentored to help them transfer theoretical knowledge into practice and acquire skills in preventing corruption.

In addition to an online awareness campaign, advocacy activities will also take place. The project will call for the implementation of comprehensive and effective whistleblower protection laws through the transposition of the EU Directive. We will base the advocacy campaign on examples of good practice from other countries, thus providing decision-makers with additional information on the legislative possibilities for the protection of whistleblowers.