In response to a shifting funding landscape, we, as GlobaLeaks together with fellow Digital Public Good product owners, have issued an open letter to remind supporters of digital transformation worldwide of the vital role DPGs play in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.

DPGs are already helping countries and organisations deliver public services more effectively. They address critical global challenges—from climate change and healthcare to education, financial inclusion, and strengthening information integrity. By enabling open, interoperable, and adaptable technologies that can be tailored to local contexts, DPGs help avoid duplication, reduce costs, and scale impact across geographies. As development assistance models evolve, the efficiency, speed, and collaborative advantages of DPGs make them more essential than ever.

This letter, signed by more than 15 DPG product owners, calls on governments, funders, civil society organisations, technologists including system integrators and hyperscalers and all actors in the digital ecosystem to reflect on the action points highlighted and consider how they can contribute to the continued sustainability of DPGs. Together, we emphasize the importance of collective action to ensure the future of open, shared digital public goods.

For more information visit the Digital Public Good Alliance website.

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The session explored whistleblowing not only as a legal obligation but also as a vital instrument for fostering ethical and transparent environments within the world of sport. Football, in particular, faces significant challenges such as corruption, match-fixing, doping violations, financial misconduct, discrimination, harassment, and abuse. By examining landmark whistleblowing cases alongside recent instances of match manipulation and labor exploitation, we demonstrated how reporting has been essential in uncovering wrongdoing and driving reform.

A key part of the presentation focused on the practical application of whistleblowing tools, highlighting the use case of GlobaLeaks at ACF Fiorentina. GlobaLeaks, an open-source whistleblowing platform developed to align with EU standards, supports the club in maintaining integrity and transparency by enabling secure, anonymous reporting from both internal and external stakeholders. This example illustrated how technology can effectively integrate into governance frameworks to strengthen ethical practices in sport.

Our discussion covered the main legal frameworks governing whistleblowing, including the EU Directive 2019/1937 and its Italian implementation (D.lgs. 24/2023), the organizational compliance model under D.lgs. 231/2001, the ISO 37002:2021 standard on whistleblowing management systems, and GDPR provisions ensuring confidentiality and digital protection. We highlighted how whistleblowing fits into broader safeguarding, compliance, and sustainability strategies within sports organizations.

We extend our sincere thanks to Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, ACF Fiorentina, and all the students who participated in this training. The quality of the discussions and the keen interest shown confirm how important it is to continue developing practical tools and effective practices for ethics in sport.

Download the slides of the course.

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The Tribunal’s decision on 6 February 2025 dismissing Dr. Francesco Zambon’s claims of retaliation after his efforts to report inappropriate conduct regarding WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 report reflects a regressive interpretation of whistleblower protections and a disregard for critical international standards. This decision sets a troubling precedent for whistleblower protection across the United Nations common system and risks sending a chilling signal to those who seek to report wrongdoing and protect the public interest.

Case Background

In 2020, Dr. Zambon became a whistleblower during the COVID-19 pandemic, after raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest within the WHO and the suppression of critical public health information. He alleged that WHO withdrew a report he authored, which revealed that Italy’s pandemic preparedness plan had not been updated since 2006, contributing to a chaotic early response to the crisis. 

Dr. Zambon reported being pressured by Mr G., who at that time held the position of WHO Assistant Director-General (ADG), to alter the report to falsely state the plan had been updated in 2016. Dr. Zambon refused to change the date, asserting that the plan had never been updated since 2006. The report was published online and was withdrawn less than 24 hours later. Since then, Dr Zambon reported professional retaliation, including demotion and isolation.

The ILOAT ruling followed two internal WHO proceedings that also failed to recognize Dr. Zambon as a whistleblower, despite supportive findings from WHO’s own Global Board of Appeal (GBA) which deemed him most likely entitled to whistleblower protection. This final judgement raises serious questions about the fairness, transparency and credibility of internal justice mechanisms within the UN justice system.

We are particularly alarmed by the following aspects of the ILOAT’s judgment:

• Failure to Consider Amicus Curiae Brief: We welcome the Tribunal’s acceptance of the amicus curiae brief submitted by our organisations — an important step that acknowledged the value of globally recognized principles and best practices in whistleblower protection. However, we note with concern, that the ILOAT dismissed the amicus brief’s arguments about the WHO’s whistleblower framework and the GBA’s independence because both arguments were not first raised by the complainant. 

The ILOAT’s procedural dismissal of our amicus curiae brief undermines the very purpose of amicus participation. Our brief presented legal and ethical standards vital to the fair adjudication of whistleblower retaliation claims. We question the ILOAT’s dismissal on several grounds: 

(1) its overly restrictive interpretation of amicus briefs’ purpose contradicts their traditional role of providing specialized expertise that may not be within the complainant’s knowledge or offering perspectives beyond what the parties might raise providing valuable context for systemic issues among other things; 

(2) the artificial separation between systemic whistleblower framework issues and individual complaints ignores their intrinsic connection; 

(3) the Tribunal abdicated its responsibility to ensure effective remedies, which may require examining structural problems underlying individual cases; 

(4) this approach inconsistently applies UN administrative law principles that emphasize justice over procedural evasion; 

(5) it reinforces power imbalances between individual complainants and international organisations, undermining procedural fairness; and 

(6) the Tribunal should have reasonably interpreted its own rules to view the brief as complementary context rather than an enlargement of scope. A more flexible and contextual approach would have better served justice and whistleblower protection in international organisations. Such an approach would not have violated the rights of either party, because the Tribunal shared our brief with them and afforded them the opportunity to make submissions on the brief. 

• Misinterpretation of Whistleblower Standards: ILOAT’s conclusion that Dr. Zambon had a “personal interest” in his report and therefore was not eligible for protection reflects a misreading of whistleblower policy. The retaliatory threats reported by Dr. Zambon, including alleged pressure to falsify research and defamation, were clearly linked to his refusal to engage in misconduct, not personnel disputes.
  
• Dismissal of Retaliation Evidence: The ILOAT found no evidence of retaliation and dismissed the threat of dismissal as irrelevant because it occurred prior to the report’s publication. This reasoning is fundamentally flawed: whistleblower protections are intended to shield individuals from threats and retaliation that discourage reporting of wrongdoing, regardless of when such threat occurs. Moreover, the Tribunal failed to recognize anticipatory threats and defamatory acts as forms of retaliation, despite Dr. Zambon’s allegations regarding the then ADG’s attempts to discredit Dr. Zambon, including alleged threats made to Italian authorities and the press during his official tenure.
• Failure to Acknowledge Defamation as Institutional Retaliation and Provide a Neutral, Transparent, and Fair Judgement: The Tribunal also concluded that allegedly defamatory statements made by the ADG were made in a personal capacity and not attributable to WHO, yet it offered no explanation or evidence to support this finding. Given the ADG’s leadership position and the context in which the statements were made, they should have been recognized as institutional retaliation. Furthermore, ILOAT did not reproduce or even summarize the public statements made by the ADG that Dr. Zambon alleged were harmful. This omission undermines both the transparency of its decision and Dr. Zambon’s ability to challenge those characterizations. We do note, however, that the ILOAT supported Dr. Zambon on the limited ground that the WHO should have publicly disassociated itself from the allegedly defamatory statements made by the ADG, even though it ruled those statements were made in his personal capacity, and thus awarded Dr. Zambon 15,000 Swiss Francs in moral damages. This was the ILOAT’s sole recognition of wrongdoing by WHO and it was not framed as retaliation or breach of whistleblower protections, but merely a failure of public response.

• Erosion of Internal Appeal Protections: The judgment’s dismissal of the WHO GBA’s reasoned recommendation — to recognize Zambon’s entitlement to whistleblower protection and WHO’s failure in its duty of care, and to award Zambon moral damages and legal fees for his appeal — may deter future internal bodies from making fair findings in whistleblower cases. Such an outcome fundamentally undermines the credibility of internal review bodies amounting to a useless, time and resource-wasting, exercise. 

We are deeply concerned not only with the substance of the decision, but also about the fairness and transparency of the Tribunal’s process:

• The judgment lacked sufficient detail and failed to adequately explain the reasoning behind its conclusions – a shortcoming that undermines public accountability and prevents the parties involved from fully understanding and responding to the decision.
  
• Under current ILOAT rules, judgments can only be reviewed on extremely narrow factual grounds. Legal errors, misinterpretations, or omissions in reasoning cannot be challenged. With only one successful review out of more than 160 applications, this mechanism is clearly inadequate for correcting mistakes or ensuring justice — particularly concerning, given that the ILOAT functions as a court of first instance with no avenue for appeal. Even though the ILOAT considers itself an appellate court and gives significant deference to the findings and conclusions on the merits of the internal appeal bodies, the internal bodies lack due process and are structurally flawed.

Whistleblowers play a vital role in safeguarding institutional integrity.  Therefore, it is of utmost importance to acknowledge the dangerous precedent set by this judgment and to reaffirm the principle that individuals who speak out against wrongdoing, particularly within global public health institutions, must be protected—not punished.

We call on the World Health Organisation, the United Nations, and the international community to take concrete, immediate steps to strengthen whistleblower protections and ensure justice for those who expose wrongdoing in the public interest.

We reaffirm our call for international organisations to align whistleblower frameworks with best practices and human rights norms. It is time for WHO and ILOAT to ensure that whistleblower protections are real, meaningful, and enforceable.

Whistleblowing International Network

Government Accountability Project

Transparency International

Transparency International Italy

GlobaLeaks

Whistleblower Aid

For further useful information on the criticalities of the UN system, see what our colleagues from GAP have done:

Letter to the Internal Justice Council (IJC) of the United Nations

Press release on the letter to the IJC

The post Public Statement on ILOAT Judgement in the case of Dr Franscesco Zambon v. WHO appeared first on GlobaLeaks.

Recent but already very outstanding contributors of GlobaLeaks, Abdul Mannan and Anxhelo Lushka are now part of our team.

Abdul is a computer engineer and advocate for secure communication, and since almost 2 years now has been an active code contributor. His efforts have focused on enhancing the platform’s architecture and functionality, collaborating with us to ensure GlobaLeaks is reliable secure tool.

Anxhelo is a devops engineer with a focus on building secure, reliable systems that support transparency and protect human rights. With a background in computer engineering and a passion for privacy-focused technologies, he brings experience in development, infrastructure automation, and cybersecurity. We would like to thank the professionals that supported us in this recruitment process: Tara Teriakiyee, Rima Sghaier, Glauco Rampogna, Emanuele ‘Lele’ Calò.

The post Welcome to our new team members! appeared first on GlobaLeaks.

Since 2013 we have been supporting ELI with our digital platform to provide a safe, secure, and anonymous channel for whistleblowers worldwide to share crucial information about environmental and wildlife crime. 

As ELI’s Executive Director Andrea Crosta, the creator of WildLeaks, shares, “Wildlife and environmental crimes often go unchallenged because people cannot speak up. WildLeaks empowers whistleblowers to help expose these crimes and bring justice.”

Over the past decade, the platform has received hundreds of submissions from more than 30 countries, ranging from wildlife trafficking to illegal logging and corporate environmental crimes. Despite limited funding, 25 cases have led to concrete actions—including investigations, reports to partner NGOs and law enforcement, and media exposure. More info about the work done in the framework of the WildLeaks initiative can be read in this report. 

Our support and collaboration to this ground-breaking initiative will continue and we encourage everyone to support ELI with a donation to ensure they can keep on fighting for a future where nature and its wildlife are protected, and environmental crime does not go unpunished. 

The post Celebrating 10 years of Wildleaks, the whistleblowing initiative to fight environmental and wildlife crime appeared first on GlobaLeaks.

WIN connects and supports civil society organisations working to defend and empower whistleblowers all over the world. As a practitioners’ network, WIN enhances the capacity of participating organisations to deliver the quality work they do and helps to raise their profile and the profile of public interest whistleblowing internationally.  

We are very proud to be part of this community that GlobaLeaks has supported since its inception. Being part of this network gives us the opportunity to share expertise and collaborate with those working to protect whistleblowers through law reform, investigative journalism, digital and human rights, climate justice and fighting corruption in more than 25 countries around the world. 

The post GlobaLeaks is officially a member of WIN appeared first on GlobaLeaks.

As part of our collaboration with TI Ireland, we will be hosting a panel, How technology can support disclosure and better protect whistleblowers. Speakers include: Giovanni Pellerano, Project Lead at GlobaLeaks, Giorgio Fraschini, Whistleblowing Manager at Transparency International Italy, and Carter Boone, Associate News Product Manager for Safety at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The event, which will be held in English, will also be an opportunity to present the WhistleblowingIT project at an international level.

In addition to our panel, there will be many others throughout the conference that will explore best practice approaches and insights that can be applied beyond borders. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from peers and experts on ethical workplaces, protected disclosures and whistleblowing systems; making it a valuable event for all organisations who wish to learn about effective protected disclosures systems and methods to strengthen workplace integrity. 

Panel topics include:      

• Integrity and the Board: curious or complacent leadership 
• Blind spots in handling whistleblowing reports 
• Partnering with disclosers: learning from whistleblowers 

The post Integrity at Work Week – Online Conference 2024: Beyond Borders: Fresh Perspectives on Whistleblowing and Workplace Integrity  appeared first on GlobaLeaks.

Our team is young and growing, strongly motivated to continue the development of the GlobaLekas open-source software which allows whistleblowers to operate safely by making their reports. We collaborate with multiple stakeholders, from public to private, from investigative journalism to the protection of human rights, because we strongly believe in the technology we develop, in the activities that revolve around it and in the extraordinary global community that supports the project.

If you think you have the requirements and the right passion, you have until May 10, 2024 to send your application. All the info is available here!

The post We’re hiring a new Dev-Ops engineer! appeared first on GlobaLeaks.

Long before the emergence of this critical whistleblower case in 2020, these organizations have tirelessly championed whistleblower rights and shed light on the flaws and loopholes embedded in the United Nations’ whistleblower framework.  The Tribunal has added this amicus brief to the case file and that is already a crucial step toward clarifying international principles and best practices related to whistleblowing.

Francesco Zambon, a former WHO scientist, made headlines in early 2020 when he coordinated a group of researchers who prepared a report on Italy’s pandemic preparedness. Italy was the first European country to be devastated by the COVID-19 emergency, and the report was meant to  help inform the pandemic responsiveness of other countries. Initially published online by the WHO in May 2020, the report was hastily withdrawn 24 hours later. The report’s findings exposed a serious lapse in the Italian Ministry of Health’s pandemic plan which had been left untouched since 2006 despite a review  being periodically required; and this plan having  been the responsibility, among others, of a high-ranking WHO official during his tenure at the Italian Ministry of Health from 2013 to 2017.  The result was a  plan that was completely inadequate to support Italy to face the challenges of the outbreak of the coronavirus that occurred in 2020. 

As a result, Zambon was pressured by the high-ranking WHO official implicated by the report to alter its findings – a move that would have jeopardized the WHO’s reputation, public health, and global policy-making by enabling the spread of disinformation. Zambon refused to obey this unethical order, which prompted the WHO to remove the report entirely from the public domain – thus tragically preventing its public service as an essential guide for future pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Zambon’s unwavering commitment to scientific integrity and transparency prompted him to report what had happened internally. Zambon’s disclosures and retaliation complaint to the WHO were met with vagueness and significant delays, ultimately denying him recognition as a whistleblower and failing to provide him with any protection.

Transparency International’s paper Whistleblower Protection at the United Nations, further highlights the pervasive risk of retaliation United Nations workers face, a  major deterrent to reporting misconduct. Fragmented and unclear whistleblowing policies, retaliation by staff, and a top-down culture within the United Nations threaten and undermine its whistleblowing system and exacerbates the challenges facing potential whistleblowers. 

This collaborative effort represents a pivotal moment in our collective pursuit of justice, accountability, and transparency. Together we stand committed to safeguarding the values of honesty, integrity, and truth within international organizations, thereby securing a brighter and safer future for all. 

Amicus Brief Summary and Background Information

Zambon’s case illustrates the flaws within the WHO and the United Nations common system regarding whistleblowing procedures and policies. The amicus brief advocates for the protection for whistleblowers who refuse to commit unethical or illegal acts, the freedom to choose their reporting channel, protection against retaliatory criminal and civil liability lawsuits, and immunity waivers, as important cornerstones of an effective policy. It argues that the WHO failed to adhere to its internal rules and procedures regarding whistleblower protection. The brief importantly highlights that suffering retaliation is not a necessary condition for someone to be considered a whistleblower while also pointing out that whether someone uses the designated channels cannot be decisive criteria on whether they are a whistleblower – whistleblowers who have not yet decided to blow the whistle but are investigating reporting channels and how to use them safely also deserve protection. The amicus brief urges the WHO to apply international law principles to its handling of whistleblower employment disputes, argues that the WHO’s whistleblowing policy falls short of international standards for whistleblower protection, and points out the lack of fairness and independence in the organization’s procedures for addressing whistleblower complaints is a critical factor.

Despite the chilling effect of an internal justice system repeatedly shown to be ineffective, Zambon is valiantly bringing his claim against the WHO to the ILO Tribunal where he is seeking recognition as a whistleblower and compensation for the suffering he endured. His perseverance offers hope for  future scientists and ethical workers within the United Nations that they will receive the time, attention, protection, and fair procedures they rightfully deserve. 

This case is significant, as its outcome will reverberate throughout the WHO and similar United Nations’ agencies, funds, and programs and influence the broader whistleblowing culture within the United Nations. The stakes are high given the United Nations mandate to tackle crucial global challenges ranging from climate change to public health, peacekeeping, relations between States, sustainable development, and the protection of human rights. Whistleblowers are the failsafe to ensure that United Nations’ agencies can effectively deliver on their mission.

The amicus’ aim is to support the Tribunal in its deliberations and the promoting organisations hope for a result that will encourage United Nations’ bodies to significantly improve their whistleblowing rules and practices, and in the long run to allow top scientists and all other workers within UN agencies, funds and programs to feel safe coming forward with any wrongdoing without fear of reprisals and knowing they will be heard. Scientific integrity should thrive without fear or favor and the importance of whistleblower frameworks  is underscored by the WHO’s obligation to safeguard human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of information, and to ensure the protection of researchers’ independence and the public’s right to access to information.

Promoting organisations

whistleblowingnetwork.org 

whistleblower.org 

www.transparency.org 

www.transparency.it

www.globaleaks.org whistlebloweraid.org

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As the GlobaLeaks project continues to grow, having Susanna onboard is an incredible asset allowing us to dedicate more time and skills to refocus our development strategy, and strengthen the ways we best support our rapidly expanding user community worldwide. 

We are delighted to present her to you:

Susanna has been working on transparency and anticorruption since 2013. She worked for Transparency International Italia for 9 years. At the beginning she was more focused on communications activities while in the last years her main role was managing projects focusing on the promotion of transparency of political financing and lobbying activities and advocating for improvements in the legislation. The advocacy work that led to the approval of the Italian whistleblowing law was part of that and was one of the most challenging and successful actions ever done. Data analysis was another activity of interest and in this field she coordinated several researches on politics, like the one that led to the creation of the web portal “Soldi e Politica”, and analysis on business transparency, like the report “Technologies and Business Integrity” and the “Business Index on Transparency”.

In her work on whistleblowing she collaborated many times with GlobaLeaks before joining the team in November 2022 as Project Manager. In this role, she is in charge of managing and coordinating the activities of the project. She is also keen to develop new projects and initiatives to further increase the capacity of the GlobaLeaks methodology to have an impact in all the 4 fields of application: anticorruption, corporate compliance, investigative journalism and human rights protection. In the last field, in particular, the experience gained over the years might support the project to expand its values and protect people all over the world by expanding tools and methodologies that help them securely report illicit behavior and misconduct. 

GlobaLeaks has in fact the capacity to support secure communications, but also to develop best practices to fight against corruption, violence and other crimes. In the coming years it would be amazing to have the GlobaLeaks framework implemented by every kind of actor who is willing to adopt an open source technology for improving the context in which they are operating to the benefit of vulnerable people.

Out of work Susanna is a proud mom of two amazing little girls from which she learns new things every day. She also loves making people happy with her food and spending time going hiking in the mountains. 

The post Welcome to our new manager Susanna Ferro! appeared first on GlobaLeaks.