Greenland Takes Steps to Protect Whistleblowers with New Legislation

In a significant move towards promoting transparency and accountability, Greenland has introduced new whistleblower protection laws for its public institutions.

What the New Legislation Covers

The new legislation allows employees working in high commissioner’s offices or the Prime Minister’s Office to report serious wrongdoings anonymously. Whistleblowers can submit reports on various types of misconduct, including:

• Criminal offenses
• Breaches of administrative law
• Sexual harassment
• Deliberate misrepresentation to the public or partners

Key Provisions

• Employees are advised not to submit personal information, such as names, addresses, and phone numbers, when filing a report.
• If requested by the Prime Minister’s Office, follow-up questions may be necessary to gather more information about the reported case.
• Whistleblowers are encouraged to provide contact information, which will enable the Prime Minister’s Office to reach out with guidance or further questions. However, if no contact information is provided, whistleblowers must regularly log into the digital whistleblower portal to respond to any queries.

Implementation and Access

The new whistleblower scheme came into effect on December 17th, 2021. To access the scheme, please visit the Prime Minister’s Office website, where all relevant information about the process and guidelines can be found online.

Notable Exception

It is important to note that employees of high commissioner’s offices are not covered by the new whistleblower scheme. Instead, such reports will be handled in accordance with the previous common guideline for whistleblower schemes in state administration.