Lithuania has made progress in encouraging people to become whistleblowers, say experts from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. However, they call for a more systematic collection of statistics on whether specific measures have been successful.
The OECD assessment followed a review of Lithuania’s 2015-2025 National Anti-Corruption Program and the inter-institutional action plans for its implementation.
“Although progress has been made to improve the framework conditions to encourage whistleblowing, the application of whistleblower protection is considered to be still at an early stage. More efforts are needed to instil a culture of integrity, where public sector employees, the private sector, and citizens trust the existing reporting channels,” the OECD experts said.
The organisation also points out that Lithuania currently does not collect information on how many people have become whistleblowers and how useful their information has been.
“Lithuanian authorities do not have an annual breakdown of the number of whistleblowers who made protected discloses or an analysis of the quality and usefulness of these reports. Therefore, Lithuanian authorities would benefit from having a more systemic approach," the report reads.
OECD states that Lithuania’s existing law on the protection of whistleblowers “has greatly contributed to the establishment of reporting channels”, but it says the existing procedure needs improving. The organisation proposes publishing anonymous statistics on the outcome of whistleblower cases.
This could also include information on what retaliatory actions have been taken against whistleblowers and how these cases have ended, as well as on any decision in response to violations of whistleblowers’ rights, OECD said.
OECD also suggests publishing cumulative data on taxpayer money recovered from fraud or through fines, as this would be "very effective in gaining cultural support for whistleblowers and cultivating trust".
Lithuania is also encouraged to consider launching media campaigns to raise awareness of the existing whistleblower channels.
In 2017, the Seimas of Lithuania adopted the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers to protect persons who report corruption or other irregularities at state institutions. It came into force in 2019.
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