24. 05. 2013

SYSTEMIC PROTECTION OF WHISTLEBLOWERS

Belgrade, May 24, 2013 (FoNet) - Serbia must find a systemic solution for the protection of whistle-blowers instead of the current partial protection of people who point out to the abuses and corruption, the participants of the international conference "Protection of whistle-blowers" agreed.

Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic warned that up to now, all of those who had pointed to these problematic social phenomena experienced problems because the state had neither the strength nor the will to enact legislation that would protect those people.

Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic, who was a member of the working group for drafting the law, expressed his belief that the protection of whistleblowers would also lead to a more efficient mechanism to verify their claims.

Minister of Justice and Public Administration Nikola Selakovic said that there was no systematic solution to protect whistleblowers. He said the state was leading the fight against corruption, and citizens should be confident enough to get involved in this fight, knowing that they would be protected.