The story of Huis voor Klokkenluiders

Bonjour,

The following is copy/pasted from a summary someone sent me. Credits goes to them :slight_smile:

Whistleblowing as a topic was not really widely discussed in the Netherlands until the turn of the millennium (1999/2000), after the labor union FNV did some research into the topic that showed a severe lack of facilities for potential whistleblowers. As a result, the government announced some initiatives geared at protecting whistleblowers.

However, a 2008 study by the ministry of Internal Affairs showed that the situation — at least in the public sector — had not improved much. Consequently, two institutions were set up: the ‘Adviespunt Klokkenluiders’ (a service point for whistleblowers) and an ‘Onderzoeksraad Integriteit Overheid’ (which would investigate cases brought to light by whistleblowers). In 2016, both of these merged into the Huis voor Klokkenluiders (Whistleblowers’ House).

This Whistleblower’s House aims to provide ‘advice and support’, and, if possible, to investigate. However, in March 2017, less than a year later, newspaper NRC revealed that one of the Whistleblowers House employees had been posted there by the AIVD. In October, the House’s president resigned. As it turned out, not a single investigation into possible wrongdoing had been completed in the sixteen months since the House was created.

Cheers