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Resolution 2060 (2015)
Improving the protection of whistle-blowers
1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls
its Resolution 1729 (2010) and Recommendation 1916 (2010) on the
protection of “whistle-blowers”, which invite all Council of Europe
member States to improve the protection of whistle-blowers, strengthen
accountability and bolster the fight against corruption and mismanagement,
both in the public and private sectors.
2. Recalling Resolution
1966 (2014) on refusing impunity for the killers of Sergei
Magnitsky, the Assembly calls on member States to provide security
protection to those who expose organised crime and large-scale collusion
between government officials and criminals and to prosecute internationally
the perpetrators of attacks on whistle-blowers as well as those
who have instigated such attacks.
3. It further recalls its Resolution
1954 (2013) and Recommendation
2024 (2013) on national security and access to information,
supporting the Tshwane Principles (The Global Principles on National
Security and the Right to Information) to improve the balance between
the public’s right to know and the protection of legitimate national
security concerns.
4. The Assembly stresses the importance of the case law of the
European Court of Human Rights, upholding the right to privacy,
freedom of speech and the protection of whistle-blowers, including
in the fields of national security and intelligence.
5. It further welcomes the recent adoption, by the Committee
of Ministers, of Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7 on the protection
of whistleblowers, which calls on member States to create an appropriate normative,
judicial and institutional framework for the protection of whistle-blowers.
6. It notes that the Council of Europe has set up guidelines
for staff members on reporting wrongdoing; these guidelines, which
establish internal reporting channels, reflect some, but not all,
of the principles advocated by the Assembly and the Committee of
Ministers.
7. In view of the disclosures concerning mass surveillance and
intrusions of privacy carried out by the United States National
Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies, which include
the communications of numerous people who are not suspected of any
wrongdoing, the Assembly notes with regret that disclosures of information
related to national security are generally excluded from protection available
to whistle-blowers.
8. The Assembly considers that whistle-blower protection measures
should cover all individuals who denounce wrongdoings which place
fellow human beings at risk of violations of their rights protected
under the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), including
people working for national security or intelligence agencies, without
infringing upon the human rights of others.
9. In view of the importance of whistle-blowing to ensure that
legal limits placed on mass surveillance are respected (see Resolution 2045 (2015) on
mass surveillance, paragraph 13), and in view of the international ramifications
of whistle-blowing in the field of national security or intelligence,
the Assembly considers that whistle-blowers (including employees
of relevant government agencies or private contractors), whose disclosures
are otherwise in line with Resolution
1729 (2010), Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7
or the Tshwane Principles as supported by Resolution 1954 (2013), should,
in accordance with national legislation, be granted asylum in any
member State of the Council of Europe when they are persecuted in
their home country.
10. The Assembly therefore calls on:
10.1. Council of Europe member and observer States and the European
Union, as applicable, to:
10.1.1. enact whistle-blower protection
laws also covering employees of national security or intelligence
services and of private firms working in this field;
10.1.2. grant asylum, as far as possible under national law, to
whistle-blowers threatened by retaliation in their home countries,
provided their disclosures qualify for protection under the principles
advocated by the Assembly;
10.1.3. agree on a binding legal instrument (convention) on whistle-blower
protection on the basis of Committee of Ministers Recommendation
CM/Rec(2014)7, taking into account recent developments;
10.2. the United States of America to allow Mr Edward Snowden
to return without fear of criminal prosecution under conditions
that would not allow him to raise the public interest defence.