WIN is honoured to share the launch of Repubblika’s report:
‘Protecting Whistleblowers in Malta’.
The report examines Malta’s record for protecting whistleblowers and where it stands with transposing the EU Directive on whistleblowing into national law.
WIN is developing a compliance tool based on the standards of the EU Directive and emerging international best practice principles to help civil society evaluate draft laws in their country. We are delighted that Repubblika's report has used the first iteration of this tool to review and analyse the proposed law in Malta.
By using this compliance tool Malta has improved its legal framework. However, according to the report, the new law fails to address the influence government has on who is granted whistleblower status:
“...the failure of Malta to address this fundamental flaw in the legal framework has led to whistleblower protection experts labelling the transposition law a “trojan horse.” Furthermore, it seems clear that any whistleblowers who are perceived as hostile to the government’s interests will not be able to rely on this new law to protect them”.
The report aims to provide a detailed comparison of the new whistleblower protection law in Malta against the EU Directive and acknowledges improvements to the Maltese legal framework while highlighting persistent weaknesses.
We call on the Maltese authorities to review this report carefully, to take its recommendations seriously and to act now.
Read and download the full report here