Parliament has accepted the whistleblower protection bill.

At Monday’s sitting, the bill was accepted with votes from 42 MPs and sent to the committee on independent institutions for review.

North-Galolhu MP Eva Abdulla proposed the bill on behalf of the new administration.

During the initial hearing of the bill, MP Eva said that no matter which part of the world they are in, whistleblowers are always faced with many dangers, but that countries who used to see them traitors are now providing them with protection.

She highlighted that Australia, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, and countries in the European Union have all changed their laws to protect those who expose unethical and illegal acts within the state.

Eva said that Maldivian citizens have always been powerless to stop state corruption and unethical behavior and those that were witness to such acts have always remained silent over the fear of losing their jobs or being imprisoned and tortured.

She said that the purpose of the bill is to empower people to expose corruption, adding that the past five years have only seen those involved in graft be protected.

She added that the bill was drafted two years ago with the help of Transparency Maldives.

The bill proposes to establish laws that would empower and protect whistleblowers and investigate their claims.

It also defines whistleblowing as exposing acts of corruption and criminal behavior, acts that violate international human rights laws, dangers to public health and the environment, state graft, miscarriages of justice, and mismanagement or misuse of resources.

The bill states that whistleblowers are to be protected from civil and criminal lawsuits, administrative action, and have their personal information kept hidden.