CoE Legal/Human Rights Committee Chair Purgurides to EuroFora: Whistle-Blowing Crisis+BioEthic risks

It's only if Whistle-blowers are Free, Safe and really Heard when they speak out also in Public, that we might avoid Global Finanial Crisis as that which was triggered by Lehman Brothers' collapse, and/or BioGenetic Risks from doing harm to People and Societies, stressed in substance the President of CoE Assembly's Legal and Human Rights Committee, ChristianDemocrat MEP from Cyprus, Christos Purgurides, to "EuroFora", giving a Critical support to a new CoE Resolution on "the Protection of Whistle-Blowers", that he finds "good" but "insufficient", because it's only a "a Compromise", as he told us.

    - CoE "recognises the Importance of "Whistle-Blowing - i.e. concerned individuals sounding the Alarm in order to stop wrongdoings that place fellow Human beings at Risk - as an Opportunity to strengthen Acountability and bolster thy eFight against Corruption and MisManagement, both in the Public and Private sectors", a PACE Resolution adopted this week in Strasbourg stresses from the outset.

    But, "potential whistle-blowers are often decouraged by the Fear of Reprisals, or of the Lack of Follow-p given tio ther Warnings, to the effective Management and Accountability of Public Affairs and Private Busines", it observes.

    Therefiore, all CoE's 47 Member States are invited to adopt Legislation which "should Focus on providing a Safe ALternative of Silence" : F. ex : It "should afford "bona Fide Whistle-Blowers reliable Protection against any form of Retaliation", .. "investigating the "whistle-blowers"' complaint and seeking Corrective Action".
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    But, for the President of CoE Assembly's Legal and Human Rights Committee, the adopted Resolution, even if "it's moving in the Right Direction, definitively", nevertheless, "that wouldn't be enough".

    - "This "Resolution is not enough, because it's a Compromise", Purgurides explained. - "It's not enough because there are Situations which cannot be covered by such a Provision".

    - F. ex., "it should have proposed Protection also for People who cannot be regarded as Whistle-Blowers, but, in fact, they are : For instance, there are Employees who draft a Letter or a Note internally, in believing that what is done is wrong. These People should be encouraged to carry OUT their activities also. Out of the Board, Out of the Company", Purgurides advised.

    - But "the (adopted) Resolution is Not Explicit about this, which is very Important", the President of CoE Assembly's Legal and Human Rights Committee criticized.

    - However, eventually, "this might be deduced by ECHR's Case Law", he speculated.

    Indeed, the adopted Resolution only asks for "Information" to "reach Senior Management, in good Time", and protects only those who "maker use of .. Internal whistle-blowing channels", asking also for "incentives to Government and Corporate Decision makers to put into place (only) Internal whistle-blowing procedures".  Even "concerning the CoE itself", its Committee of Ministers should "draw up a proposal for a strong ... whistle-blowing Mechanism" which should be only "Internal", an adopted Recommendation adds, revealing a real Gap.

 It's only "where Internal channels either do not exist, or hve not functioned properly, or could reasonably not be expected to function properly, given the nature of the Problem raised by the whistle-blower, (that) External whistle-blowing, inluding through the Media, should be .. protected", says the "comromise" Resolution.
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    - Moreover,  it's only "if the Information"  provided by "whistle-blowers on Lehman Brothers ...6 years ago" "had been heard" and treated Responsibly", that "the current Financial Crisis ... that is affecting the lives of so many millions of people would have been avoided". "They informed the Press and the (US) Authorities that, if Lehman Brothers carried on its business as it had been doing, the company would collapse in the near future". "But nobody took any notice of what they were saying then", Purgurides denounced earlier, speaking in CoE Assembly Plenary's debate.

    This also goes for another new sector of Crucial importance today : BioEthics : "What we (CoE) said about Whistle-Blowers applies also there", Purgurides admitted.
    
    A New Measure drafted by French Minister of Education, Science and Research, Ms Valerie Pecresse, reportedly allows a Researcher to denounce that a Project carried out by a Labo (fex. on Human Genetics, etc) might be Dangerous for Human Health and/or Human Dignity, Natural Environment and/or for the Society, etc., and obtain that it's "Freezed", as well as that a New Scientific Research is launched to either prove that the project concerned is, in fact, Safe, or find ways to protect People and/or Nature from probable Risks,

Thus, instead of less, we could have more Scientific Research, by protecting People and Society from possible Risks.     

CoE's Legal affairs and Human Rights Committee President agreed with "EuroFora" that "yes, this certainly is a Good Way to conciliate Scientific Research with the Principle of Precaution", as he observed.  

 However, CoE's Rapporteur on, Whistle-Blowers Dutch MEP Pieter Omtzigt, speaking also to "EuroFora", carefully observed that Valerie Pecresse's draft measure on Scientific Research, which could be applied on BioEthics, Environment protection, etc.,"sounds a Difficult Topic to me. But it's worth trying".   

 - In fact, "it sounds Interesting. It would be nice to have a Folow-up on that, and see what other Countries are doing" on such matters, CoE's Rapporteur on Whistle-Blowers advised on the idea of the French Minister for Scientific Research.