Every year on 23 June, we take a moment to recognise the crucial role that whistleblowers play in the fight for a more just world. There has been no shortage of evidence of this in recent years, as we all reckoned with the COVID-19 pandemic.
And yet, this year’s World Whistleblowers Day comes with a sobering reminder that our systems are still failing to protect whistleblowers. This is reiterated by the new BBC documentary that recounts alleged retaliation against those reporting corruption, mismanagement and sexual abuse internally in the United Nations (UN) agencies over years.
Far from being the first report of such kind about the institution whose mission is to address the world’s biggest challenges, the revelations expose a pattern of egregious misconduct at all levels and a system unable – or perhaps unwilling – to protect whistleblowers.
In March 2021, as the world was reeling from the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Francesco Zambon resigned from the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN’s public health agency, after months of intolerable working conditions. Prior to that, he had reported his concern about an apparent suppression of a study on Italy’s pandemic preparedness – findings which were first published and then withdrawn the very next day by the WHO. Even though several civil society organisations came forward to support Zambon and asked for accountability from the organisation, no action has been taken to date.
A few months later, Emma Reilly – an...
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