United Nations Ethics Office - Whistle Blower Protection

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The United Nations Ethics Office prescribes Whistle Blower Protection by the Secretariat's ST/SGB/2005/21. [1] The Ethics Office has the authority to take preventive action against potential repercussions the whistle blower may receive. [2] [3]

Contents

By providing protection for staff who may otherwise be reluctant to come forward, the UN learns about and is able to respond to misconduct. This strengthens accountability and maintains the integrity of its operations and programmes.

Protection against retaliation applies to all staff members, interns and UN volunteers. Punishing consultants who report violations of UN rules and regulations is also prohibited.

History

In October 2013, Florin Postica and Ai Loan Nguyen-Kropp won a public hearing with a UN Judge ruling that "Two whistle-blowers exposed evidence-tampering by a top official within the UN office who is supposed to investigate corruption in the world body's operations and suffered retaliation for it." [4]

In November 2014, Peter A. Gallo [5] filed a lawsuit [6] in the Manhattan Supreme Court against his supervisor that he was allegedly defamed, falsely accused of crimes and subjected to discipline, all in retaliation for charging his boss with misconduct.

The Director of the Ethics Office, Elia Yi Armstrong, [7] was appointed in August 2015 by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. [8]

In December 2016, it was reported [9] that the UN was considering drafting proposals to further restrict the type of report that would be eligible for "Whistleblower" protection.

The United Nations Ethics office has been under scrutiny [10] for its perceived oversight shortcomings, and investigative practices in relation to Whistleblowers. [11]

Protection clauses

Under ST/SGB/2005/21, any UN staff member is entitled to protection if they:

as soon as possible and not later than five years after they become aware of it,
report it in good faith, and
provide information or evidence to support a reasonable belief that misconduct has occurred.

The role of the Ethics Office is to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine if a prima facie case of retaliation exists.

Notable whistleblowers

The most famous UN Whistleblower is James Wasserstrom, who reported corruption within the UN Mission in Kosovo. [12]

More recent whistleblowers include Aicha Elbasri, Caroline Hunt-Matthes, [13] Florin Postica, Ai Loan Nguyen-Kropp [14] and Peter A. Gallo.

Related Research Articles

A whistleblower is a person, usually an employee, who exposes information or activity within a private, public, or government organization that is deemed illegal, illicit, unsafe, or a waste, fraud, or abuse of taxpayer funds. Those who become whistleblowers can choose to bring information or allegations to surface either internally or externally. Over 83% of whistleblowers report internally to a supervisor, human resources, compliance, or a neutral third party within the company, with the thought that the company will address and correct the issues. Externally, a whistleblower can bring allegations to light by contacting a third party outside of the organization such as the media, government, or law enforcement. The most common type of retaliation reported is being abruptly terminated. However, there are several other activities that are considered retaliatory, such as sudden extreme increase in workloads, having hours cut drastically, making task completion impossible or otherwise bullying measures. Because of this, a number of laws exist to protect whistleblowers. Some third-party groups even offer protection to whistleblowers, but that protection can only go so far. Two other classifications of whistleblowing are private and public. The classifications relate to the type of organizations the whistleblower works in: private sector, or public sector. Depending on many factors, both can have varying results. About 20% of whistleblowers are successful in stopping the illegal behaviors, usually through the legal system, with the help of a whistleblower attorney. For the whistleblower's claims to be credible and successful, the whistleblower must have compelling evidence to support their claims, that the government or regulating body can use or investigate to "prove" such claims and hold corrupt companies and/or government agencies accountable. A whistleblower case would never continue on legally, or ever be reported via the news, without substantial and compelling evidence.

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Whistleblower Protection Act

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The Office of Inspector General for the Department of State (OIG) is an independent office within the U.S. Department of State with a primary responsibility to prevent and detect waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. OIG inspects more than 270 embassies, diplomatic posts, and international broadcasting installations throughout the world to determine whether policy goals are being achieved and whether the interests of the United States are being represented and advanced effectively.

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References

  1. Annan, Kofi (19 December 2005). "Secretary-General's Bulletin - Protection against retaliation for reporting misconduct and for cooperating with duly authorized audits or investigations". undocs.org. United Nations. ST/SGB/2005/21. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  2. "The UN Ethics Office promotes an ethical organizational culture based on our shared values of integrity, accountability, transparency and respect. It is independent, impartial, confidential and professional". www.un.org. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  3. "The UN Ethics Office promotes an ethical organizational culture based on our shared values of integrity, accountability, transparency and respect. It is independent, impartial, confidential and professional". www.un.org.
  4. "Associated Press News". bigstory.ap.org.
  5. "Thirty Eight Questions – How corruption & incompetence in the UN turned loyalty into a problem". peteragallo.com.
  6. "UN investigator files lawsuit claiming defamation and retaliatory actions in workplace".
  7. "United Nations - Elia Yi Armstrong". esa.un.org.
  8. "Secretary-General Appoints Elia Armstrong of Canada Director of Ethics Office - Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org.
  9. "Ban Ki-moon Should Strengthen (Not Weaken) Whistleblower Protections at the UN - GAP". www.whistleblower.org.
  10. "The U.N.'s Investigation Wars".
  11. Lynch, Colum (3 May 2008). "Reports Fault U.N. Watchdog Unit" via www.washingtonpost.com.
  12. MacFarquhar, Neil (16 June 2010). "Review Panel Judges See a Culture of U.N. Secrecy". The New York Times.
  13. "UNHCR Whistleblower Wins Case before the UN Dispute Tribunal - GAP". www.whistleblower.org.
  14. NGUYEN-KROPP POSTICA v. SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS