Whistleblower Protection By The Council Of Europe The European Court Of Human Rights And The European Union

First introduced in the United States, whistleblower laws have become increasingly popular around the world. This book illustrates the regional efforts undertaken by European organizations to promote whistleblower protection in Europe. To provide context, the first part of the book presents an overview of the international best practices for whistleblowing legislation and explores the status of whistleblower under international law. It also assesses the global hot topics regarding whistleblowing, from the cases of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange to the silencing of whistleblowers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following parts focus on the European approach to whistleblower laws. It illustrates the influence of the Council of Europe in putting whistleblower protection on the European agenda and discusses the European Court of Human Rights’ case law on whistleblowing under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the final part, the author analyzes the evolution of the European Union’s approach to whistleblowing and the legal significance of the EU Whistleblower Directive adopted in 2019. In the respective parts, the author also examines the effectiveness of the international organizations’ own internal rules on whistleblowing, from the United Nations and the World Bank Group to the Council of Europe and the European Union.

Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7 on the protection of whistleblowers encourages member states of the Council of Europe to have in place a normative, institutional and judicial framework that protects the rights and interests of individuals who, in the context of their workbased relationship, report or disclose information on threats or harm to the public interest. A series of principles is set out in the appendix to the recommendation to guide member states when introducing legislation and regulations or, where required, making amendments.

This book seeks to address the phenomenon of whistleblowing in the light of European court decisions. It also provides an in-depth study of comparative law, the legal systems of which can be used to compare the Portuguese General Whistleblower Protection Regime. As can be seen, the Portuguese legislator took advantage of the fact that the European Whistleblowing Directive is a minimum harmonisation directive to give Law 93/2021 a broader scope than that required by European standards.

This monograph is an outcome of research completed within the Visegrad Grant “Workplace Whistleblower Protection in the V4 Countries, France and Slovenia” – WhistlePro (2020–2021), financed from the International Visegrad Fund. The project aims to contribute to the improvement of the legal framework in the Visegrad countries concerning the protection of workplace whistleblowers and, indirectly, to the change of workers’ attitudes towards whistleblowing. Contributions prepared by legal experts from various countries and universities concern matters of universal importance such as freedom of expression relative to whistleblowing, personal scope of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive (2019/1937) or personal data protection. They also discuss the legal situation concerning whistleblower protection in the Visegrad countries, France and Slovenia and present recommendations for changes in the respective countries. The monograph culminates with a summary of proposals for the improvement of the legal situation of persons disclosing breaches of law in the work-related context. Given its topicality and in-depth analysis of legal problems related to adequate whistleblower protection, the book may be of interest to academics, practitioners, social partners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and policy makers in the process of the EU Whistleblower Protection Directive transposition in Member States. Dagmara Skupień

In recent years there has been a substantial debate over the interconnection between labour rights and human rights. Consequently, the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concerning substantive individual labour rights, or ‘rights at work’, is coming to greater prominence at the national level throughout the forty-seven Member States of the Council of Europe. This is the first book in English to provide a thorough analysis of the Court’s most recent case law – cases considered in the period from 1963 to 2016 – on fundamental employment rights such as the right to wages, protection from discrimination and unfair dismissal, the right to occupational safety at work, and civil liberties such as the freedom of association, the freedom of religion and expression, and the right to privacy. Drawing on close scrutiny of 347 cases since 1963, the author traces the evolutionary development of the Court’s positions on labour rights as human rights through case analyses, commentary, and general conclusions in each of several categorical groupings. Recent trends are treated in substantial detail. Among the issues and topics raised are the following: – interrelation of ECtHR case law and national labour rights protection; – benefits for employees of reference to ECtHR case law in national proceedings; – role of International Labour Organization conventions and of the European Social Charter in the Court’s reasoning; – application of balancing and proportionality test in relevant to labour law cases; – public criticism of employer, disclosure of information, and standards of whistle-blowers’ protection; and – positive obligations of the State in the ¬field of occupational safety and health. This book offers the most detailed and considered analysis available of how individual labour rights have been referred to in the human rights jurisprudence of the ECtHR. Given that the Court’s positions have already changed certain aspects of some national labour laws, this peerless volume will prove indispensable for practitioners and scholars monitoring the growing applicability of human rights law in matters of labour and employment, especially in the areas of protection of wages, unjust dismissal, and occupational safety.

Presenting the broad spectrum of interdisciplinary academic research on corruption, this essential reference book examines anti-corruption legislation, governance mechanisms, international instruments, and other preventative measures intended to tackle corruption. Including over 100 entries and adopting a comprehensive approach to researching and combating corruption, this Encyclopedia covers the key ideas, concepts, and theories in corruption law.

Whistleblower protection is vital for: safeguarding public interest; promoting accountability and integrity in public and private institutions; and encouraging reporting of misconduct, fraud and corruption. This report analyses whistleblower protection standards in the public and private sectors.

The book deals with the complicated relationships between national security and human rights, and between public health and human rights. Its premise is the fact that national security and public health are both included in human rights instruments as ‘exceptions’ to the human rights therein sanctioned, yet they can arguably be considered as human rights themselves and be equally valuable. The book therefore asks to what extent the protection of the individual could – or should – be overridden to enable the protection of the national security or public health of the general public. Both practice and case law have shown that human rights risk being set aside when they clash with the protection of national security or public health. Through theoretical analysis and practical examples, the book addresses the conflicts that arise when the concepts of national security and public health are used – and abused – and other rights, including freedom of speech, procedural freedoms, individual health, are violated as a consequence. It provides many interesting findings on the values that states are ready to protect – and forego – to ensure their safety, which can contribute to the ongoing debate on the protection of human rights. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.