Ending a 14-year legal battle and after spending more than five years in a British high-security jail and seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walked free this week. Although he faced 18 criminal charges, he only pled guilty to violating the United States espionage law, and a deal permitted him to go back to Australia.
The case of Assange has been controversial, largely because of the nature of the secrets that he exposed which include important and sensitive military secrets. While his acts have been commended by those who value the freedoms of expression, speech and information as well as media freedom, Assange’s case has raised questions about the extent of those freedoms. Regardless, Assange is being portrayed as both a villain and a hero in social media.
The subject of whistleblowers is particularly important to Sri Lanka in the current context. As part of the ongoing reform processes, especially concerning the economy and the rule of law, Sri Lanka has pledged to take a number of measures to combat corruption, some of which such as legal reforms have already received attention. However, laws alone can never bring about the kind of change that Sri Lanka needs, and the public’s support is essential. The support of those who work in environments or sectors plagued by corruption is a necessity.
During the past few years, various committees, Auditor General’s reports and Police investigations have revealed corruption that had been going on for years with the involvement of not one but many. However, those acts of corruption never came out despite in some cases being evident. If there was a better environment for whistleblowers, perhaps some of those acts of corruption may have been exposed before, and they would have been stopped before they could continue causing billions of Rupees in terms of losses. The country cannot wait until such probes reveal corruption in every sector. Sometimes, they take years if not decades to complete, sometimes, they are not equipped enough to expose corruption, and sometimes, they do not receive adequate evidence to prove that an offence has been committed. Therefore, if Sri Lanka is to truly eradicate corruption, especially as part of the economic recovery process, a better, safer environment for whistleblowers is essential.
Sri Lanka has a number of laws, the key ones being those relating to the freedoms of expression and speech, that could support whistleblowers depending on the circumstances. However, getting them to come forward is the intricate part. Making whistleblowers feel safe and confident enough to reveal what they know, which could often involve revealing secrets about their superiors or people with political power, is challenging. That is why Sri Lanka needs not only a whistleblower protection law, but a mechanism that focuses on the practical aspects of encouraging people to come forward.
This is not something that cannot be achieved through laws, because the working environments applicable to various sectors vary significantly. Therefore, while continuing to take the relevant national-level decisions, institutional-level policies and practices should be strengthened by incorporating whistleblowers’ safety into those. At the same time, attitudinal and awareness-related efforts are integral parts of this mission. Firstly, people should be aware of their freedoms, limitations, and the legal situation pertaining to revealing what they know about a certain place, situation or a person, and secondly, increased attention needs to be paid to evidence and proper procedures because their case depends on that.
The concept of whistle-blowing is generally viewed as a good practice, especially because of the good that it can lead to regarding which there are countless examples. However, certain aspects of cases like Assange’s point out an important, not-so-good aspect of the concept of whistle-blowing. That is, not being cautious about the relevance and sensitivity of what one is exposing. Merely because something is a secret, it does not necessarily mean that it needs to be exposed. Certain information may remain a secret without constituting a threat to anything or any person or violating any law. This is something that we need to raise awareness about, if we are going to promote and protect the concept of whistle-blowing at a larger, more organised level. We need to also educate the people that what needs to be exposed is not necessarily what remains hidden, but what harms or could harm the people and the country.
As an important stakeholder in the fight against corruption, civil society organisations also have an important role in this mission. While advocating legal and policy changes, they should pay attention to strengthening and protecting whistleblowers.