Protected or Exposed? Whistleblower Protection in the Western Balkans: Progress and Challenges

How safe is it to speak truth to power? Protected or Exposed? offers a groundbreaking, regional analysis of whistleblower protection frameworks across five Western Balkan jurisdictions: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo. Published in May 2026, this comprehensive report bridges the gap between formal legal text and real-world survival for those who expose corruption.

Rather than relying purely on state theories, this book is written by the very legal practitioners and civil society experts who provide free legal aid to whistleblowers on the ground. The report evaluates how closely local laws align with EU Directive 2019/1937, exposing critical loopholes—such as a systemic over-reliance on a whistleblower’s “good faith” intentions rather than the objective truth of their claims.

Featuring raw, high-profile case studies of modern public-interest figures (including Aleksandar Obradović, Emir Mešić, and Katarina Petrović) , the text details their battles against workplace demotions, arrests, and institutional retaliation.

This publication was developed within the project “Strengthening Regional Mechanisms for Combating Corruption and Impunity” implemented by Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina and project partners: Transparency Serbia, Transparency International Macedonia, The Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector – MANS, and Kosova Democratic Institute with financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy. Its content is the sole responsibility of Transparency International BiH and project partners and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Endowment for Democracy