Legal Protections for Public Sector Whistleblowers – An ILO Analysis

by Tobias Grabsch

Whistleblowing is trending.

In 2015, 58% of employees who witnessed misconduct in the workplace reported it. In 2020, that number rose to 81%.

Unfortunately, retaliation is also trending. While 40% of whistleblowers faced retaliation in 2015, that number grew to 61% in 2020. The amount of misconduct itself, interestingly, has remained the same, with 33% of surveyed employees having witnessed misconduct in the workplace.

These figures come from a 2021 study by the Ethics & Compliance Initiative’s (ECI) Global Business Ethics Survey (GBES) 2021, which analyzed responses from more than 14,000 workers in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in 10 countries. A later GBES report in 2023 confirmed these trends, while revising its methodology for assessing these numbers.

The realities of this study also sparked the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) interest. In a 2022 report, the ILO stated that whistleblowers “save billions of dollars in public funds” and saves lives where misconduct “impacts health, safety and the environment.”

A series of proposals and expert meetings led to the ILO’s February 2025 Working Paper 135 titled “Protecting whistleblowers in the public service – A global survey of whistleblowing laws applicable to the public service sector”. It provides a robust analysis of how 67 of its member countries handle whistleblower protection laws in the public sector.

The paper concludes that the surveyed countries show a diversity of approaches to whistleblower protection, which stands in contrast to consistent recommendations from inter-governmental organizations like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and global civil society organizations like Transparency International (TI) and the International Bar Association (IBA). It also finds that the enactment of national laws protecting whistleblowers is “a relatively recent trend,” with more than half of the national laws enacted within the past decade – which somewhat explains the diversity in approaches.

The ILO’s paper draws on these recommendations to formulate 14 specific indicators and analyzes how comprehensively, partially, or limited national laws cover each aspect of whistleblower protection. The result paints a picture of each member state’s approach to specific questions such as which public sector employees should be protected, under which conditions and what such protection entails.

Comprehensive approaches:

• Who is protected: Most countries surveyed cast a wide net, covering not just career civil servants. Spain’s law explicitly includes self-employed, shareholders, and even relatives who might face retaliation. But a few countries keep it tight, potentially leaving gaps for non-traditional workers.
• Protection threshold: The laws in the majority of the countries surveyed are comprehensive, protecting anyone with a “reasonable belief” that their report is true – like in Brazil where it’s about the report’s plausibility, not the whistleblower’s motives. But others are more restrictive, requiring whistleblowers to provide evidence or be involved as victim or defendant.
• Confidentiality and anti-retaliation protection: Almost all laws addressing these indicators are comprehensive as a matter of principle, shielding whistleblowers from civil, criminal and disciplinary proceedings. Most countries provide comprehensive remedies against retaliation such as the security protection and legal, psychological and social counseling granted by Saudi Arabia.

Diverse approaches:

• What can be reported: Half the laws surveyed are comprehensive, letting whistleblowers report a wide variety of issues, such as corruption, safety risks and mismanagement. Belgium’s law even covers breaches of internal rules or threats to the environment. The other half stick to specific crimes and serious offenses only.
• Reporting channels: Half of the laws only protect reporting made through an official channel. In an example from the other half, Bosnia-Herzegovina also allows reporting through internal and external channels, explicitly including the public and the press as viable external channels if other channels are ineffectual.
• Retaliation sanctions: Surprisingly, almost one third of the national laws reviewed do not explicitly allow for sanctions of retaliators, such as the fines and imprisonment stipulated in Côte d’Ivoire.
• Anonymity: While most laws protect reporter confidentiality, a very large majority either ignore or explicitly exclude anonymous reporters from their protection. This can dissuade whistleblowers from coming forward who are unwilling to share their identity with the receiving authority for fear of retaliation.

These findings suggest that there is a general willingness to protect whistleblowers across ILO member states. However, their approaches vary and often fail to provide comprehensive protection. A striking example of this is Saudi Arabia, emphasized in the paper for its comprehensive legal protections. The respective law was enacted in 2024 as part of an intensified effort to combat corruption – but it stands in stark contrast to the June 2025 death sentence of Saudi journalist Turki al-Jasser, following his criticism of the government on social media in 2014. Legal protections may be comprehensive, but limited reporting channels and protection thresholds can mean few people actually receive them.

The pitfalls of a changing legal landscape make legal education and counseling invaluable to the 1 in 3 employees who report witnessing misconduct in the public sector, as well as to their employers. Whistleblower protection organizations aim to provide just that, both preemptively through seminars and conference talks like the 2023 RightsCon Summit, and actively through close cooperation with whistleblowers, guiding them through the complex labyrinth of legal and bureaucratic challenges.

The ILO study thus presents an important tool both for lawmakers assessing their country’s whistleblower protection laws in the public sector and legal counselors seeking an overview of the many aspects of whistleblower protection. It shines light on a complex issue and can serve as a guide – and perhaps as a wake-up call – to all 187 ILO member states.

Publication bibliography

• Ethics & Compliance Initiative: The State of Ethics & Compliance in the Workplace. A Look at Global Trends. 2021 Global Business Ethics Survey Report. Available online at https://boardagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ECI-2021-State-of-Ethics-and-Compliance-002.pdf, checked on 7/10/2025.
• Ethics & Compliance Initiative (2023): The State of Ethics & Compliance in the Workplace. A Global Look. 2023 Update. Available online at https://www.scribd.com/document/820112279/GBES-2023-PDF-Final, checked on 10/9/2025.
• International Labour Organization (2022): The protection of whistle-blowers in the public service sector. Technical meeting on the protection of whistle-blowers in the public service sector. Geneva. Available online at https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/wcmsp5/groups/public/%40ed_dialogue/%40sector/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_853876.pdf, checked on 7/10/2025.
• Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (6/18/2025): A Saudi journalist tweeted against the government – and was executed for ‘high treason’. London. The Guardian. Available online at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/18/saudi-arabia-turki-al-jasser-executed, checked on 10/8/2025.
• Roche, Maximilien (2025): Protecting whistle-blowers in the public service. A global survey of whistle-blowing laws applicable to the public service sector. Geneva: International Labor Organization. Available online at https://www.ilo.org/publications/protecting-whistle-blowers-public-service-global-survey-whistle-blowing, checked on 10/7/2025.
• Saberi, Saman (2024): Whistleblowing in Saudi Arabia. New Law Enhances Anti-Corruption Efforts. Ethicontrol. Available online at https://ethicontrol.com/en/blog/whistleblowing-in-saudi-arabia-new-law-enhances-anti-corruption-efforts, checked on 10/8/2025.
• Saudi Press Agency (2025): ‏عام / تنفيذ حكم القتل تعزيرًا في مواطِنٍ لارتكابه عددًا من الجرائم الإرهابية‎. Riyadh. Available online at https://www.spa.gov.sa/N2339866, checked on 10/8/2025.