EDITORIAL: Omertá: the code of silence
There are both human rights and criminal justice incentives in providing adequate protection to whistleblowers and witnesses of crimes. Witnesses can be subjected to threats and intimidation from criminals who attempt to obstruct the course of justice. In addition, successful law enforcement and anti-corruption strategies depend on the willingness and ability of individuals to provide information and testify/give evidence in a court of law. Yet whistleblowers and witnesses in criminal proceedings may fear retaliation, threats or intimidation from criminals or high-ranking officials involved in corruption. – United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
One of the various strategies being proposed to combat the current worrying scourge of gun crime is for people who are aware of those in unlawful possession of firearms to become whistleblowers or informers. The Honourable Attorney General has chosen to adopt the US Homeland Security slogan of “If you see something, say something”. And one noted local criminologist has also echoed this exhortation by warning of the dire consequences of keeping silent. “…while you may want to keep your mouth shut, the next person who is shot could be your family member. You need to be forward thinking and say the life I am saving could be mine, or a relative or a close friend.”
The concept of whistleblowing or informing is widely encountered in the corporate world abroad, but we fear that it is simply not a cultural trait in the region where the repercussions of such conduct might result in the termination of the life of the informer. Certainly the cry is noised abroad in Jamaica that “informer fe dead”, and in Trinidad & Tobago, the assassination of prosecution witnesses in the period before trial of the murder accused is by now notorious.
Given the innate Barbadian aversion to risk, we would be surprised if there should be an increase in whistleblowing in the absence of an effective legal and practical guarantee of indemnity.
While the proposed Integrity in Public Life Bill does contain a whistleblower protection provision for those who are minded to report acts of corruption in public life, there is no corresponding protection for those who inform the authorities of other forms of criminal conduct in the public interest.
In this regard, Article 24 of the Organised Crime Convention 2000 (UNTOC) calls on state parties to provide effective protection from potential retaliation or intimidation of witnesses in criminal proceedings for crimes covered by the convention, which include money laundering and corruption in the public sector. This is especially important when the witness testifies against organised criminal groups.
Barbados ratified this Convention since November 2014, although to the time of writing we have not been made aware of any steps taken by the competent authority to implement the enactment of a local statute providing such protection.
It is our view that in the absence of at least such legislation, official calls for individuals to break this cultural code of silence will always be outweighed by personal considerations such as one’s subsequent safety and security, the aversion to becoming involved in matters that are not one’s business and even, perhaps, a misplaced sense of community honour. These will combine to ensure that the code of silence reigns.
We must understand that the current scourge of criminality requires a comprehensively tough and creative agenda and that neither sloganeering nor a naked appeal to observe extra-cultural practices will be of any effect.