Contacts: researchers
This information is located on
Brian Martin's website on suppression of dissent
email: bmartin@uow.edu.au
It is a sad truth that whistleblowers and dissidents often seek help but seldom find it. Below are some avenues to seek support or official action. Official channels are unlikely to be helpful and whistleblowers should undertake a careful assessment of official bodies before using them. Therefore, these bodies (of which there are a multitude) are only described in general terms. The most useful thing that most whistleblowers can do is to talk to other whistleblowers and to gain publicity. Media contacts change quickly. Hence the emphasis in the following listing is on organisations and networks that help put whistleblowers in touch with each other.
No organisation listed here is guaranteed to be helpful. The fact is that some of the most worthwhile organisations are seriously overloaded and cannot respond effectively to every request. This is all the more reason to learn everything possible to tackle issues directly, without depending on someone else to save the day.
I thank all the organisations that provided information and especially thank Linda Jones, Susan Marais-Steinman, Christopher Merrett and Kate Schroder for valuable help and advice. This listing is adapted from Brian Martin, The Whistleblower's Handbook: How to Be an Effective Resister (Charlbury: Jon Carpenter, 1999).
Whistleblowers Australia (WBA) is a national organisation
whose members are whistleblowers and their supporters. It encourages self-help
and mutual help among whistleblowers and supports campaigns on specific issues
such as free speech for employees and whistleblower legislation. It does not
undertake formal advocacy on behalf of individuals. WBA has branches or contacts
in all states. Membership is open to anyone who supports its aims. It publishes
a newsletter, The Whistle. This entry includes information about the
organisation, contacts, copies of newsletters and current actions.
Address: PO Box U129, Wollongong NSW 2500
Phone: (02) 9810 9468
Dissent Network Australia:
a list of people who are potentially willing to comment or take action against
suppression of dissent.
Free Speech Committee
PO Box 55-s, Bexley South NSW 2207
Queries:
Tony Katsigiannis (02) 502 4806 ah
Roger Crofts (02) 399 8069
Justice Action
PO Box K365, Haymarket NSW 2000
phone: (02) 281 5100
fax: (02) 281 5303
Justice Action was formerly known as the Campaign Exposing Frame-ups and Targeting
Abuses of Authority. It focusses on police corruption and miscarriages of justice.
It produces a quarterly newsmagazine titled Framed.
Official channels
There is whistleblower legislation in most states, but not federally. However,
there is no known case of a whistleblower being helped by any of the whistleblower
acts now on the books. An ombudsman is found in all states and federally. They
vary in effectiveness, but all of them are heavily overloaded with far more
complaints than they can investigate. Anticorruption bodies exist in several
states, including the Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South
Wales and the Criminal Justice Commission in Queensland. Many whistleblowers
have reported dissatisfaction with these bodies and recommend against using
them. Freedom of information legislation exists throughout the country. It can
be expensive and time-consuming but sometimes is useful for obtaining documents
and as a record of which documents about a case existed at a particular time,
to counter attempts at fabrication. Auditor-general units and antidiscrimination
bodies, which are found in every state and federally, sometimes can be helpful
in cases falling under their jurisdiction. There are also some specialised bodies,
such as the Police Integrity Commission which deals with corruption in the NSW
Police.
Freedom to Care
(FtC) is a national organisation founded by whistleblowers and run by
them and their supporters. It "promotes the right and duty of
employees to raise workplace concerns in the public interest and the
right of all citizens to open, honest and accountable treatment from
large organisations, public or private." It holds self-help meetings,
provides support to whistleblowers, campaigns on relevant issues, and
publishes a bi-annual bulletin, The Whistle. Membership is
open to anyone who supports its aims.
Address: PO Box 125, West Molesey, Surrey KT8 1YE
Phone/fax: 020-8224 1022
Email: freedomtocare@aol.com
Public Concern at Work is a legal advice centre providing
free advice to workers who are unsure whether or how to blow the
whistle. It also advises on the scope and application of the UK's
Public Interest Disclosure Act. It earns an increasing amount of
its income from the training services and toolkits it provides
to employers, unions and community groups on creating open
cultures.
Address: Suite 306, 16 Baldwins Garden, London EC1N 7RJ
Phone: 020-7404 6609
Email: whistle@pcaw.demon.co.uk
Police
Ethics Network is a network for police officers including
those interested in police whistleblowing.
Address: c/o Dr G Hunt and Mr Chris Taylor, EIHMS, University of
Surrey, Stag Hill, Guildford GU2 5XH
Email: polethnet@aol.com
Official channels
There is whistleblower legislation in the form of the Public Interest
Disclosure Act. However, it has so many holes that whistleblowers are
given little protection. For example, the onus of proof is on
whistleblowers to show that they have acted in good faith, and there
is no official whistleblower agency. Other legislation that might be
used by whistleblowers has similar problems. There is no ombudsman.
There is no freedom of information legislation. A proposed bill has a
very large number of exemptions, ensuring that it has limited
effectiveness. The European Convention on Human Rights is about to be
incorporated into British law. Auditor-general units and
antidiscrimination bodies could conceivably be helpful in cases
falling under their jurisdiction, but they have little experience
with whistleblower cases. There are a few specialist anticorruption
bodies, such as parliamentary select committees; none is known for
being effective.
Canadian Civil Liberties
Association
Address: 229 Yonge Street, Suite 403, Toronto Ont M5B 1N9
Phone: (416) 363 0321
Fax: (416) 861 1291
Email: ccla@ilap.com
Official channels
There is no broad whistleblower legislation, though some specific
legislation (such as occupational health and safety) has provisions
against retaliation. An ombudsman is found in all provinces and
federally. Also available are federal and provincial human rights
commissions, freedom of information legislation and auditor-general
units, as well as appeal bodies in more specific areas. Having no
systematic information about their effectiveness, it is safe to
assume that most of them are no more effective than official channels
in other countries such as Australia and the US.
Auckland Council for Civil Liberties
Address: PO Box 6582, Wellesley Street, Auckland
Phone: (09)376 9670
Official channels include whistleblower legislation, ombudsmen
and appeal bodies in a variety of areas (such as banking, race
relations conciliators, Health and Disability Commissioner, Police
Complaints Authority), freedom of information legislation,
auditor-general units and antidiscrimination bodies. Having no
systematic information about their effectiveness, it is safe to
assume that most of them are no more effective than official channels
in other countries such as Australia and the US.
Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI)
Address: PO Box 30668, Braamfontein 2017
Phone: phone 011 403 8403/4
Fax: 011 403 8309
Email: fxi@wn.apc.org
Institute for Democracy in
South Africa (IDASA) is an independent, nonprofit public
interest organisation promoting democracy.
Address: PO Box 1739, Cape Town 8000
Phone: 021 461 5616/98
Fax: 021 461 7210
Black Sash is a human rights advocacy organisation, focussing
on social security issues, offering free paralegal services at eight
offices throughout the country.
Address: 12 Plein Street, Cape Town 8001
Phone 021 461 7818
Fax 021 461 8004
Email: atilley@iafrica.com
Official channels
Protection for whistleblowers is included in the Open Democracy Bill,
to be considered by parliament in 1999. Of state-funded institutions,
worthy of note are the Human Rights Commission, Pretoria; Office of
the Public Protector, Pretoria (a sort of ombudsman for the public
service); Office of the Auditor-General, Pretoria; Office for Serious
Economic Offences, Pretoria; Special Investigating Unit of the Health
Commission, East London. Little evidence is available on the
effectiveness of these and other organisations in responding to
public interest disclosures.
US whistleblowers should obtain the book The Whistleblower's
Survival Guide: Courage Without Martyrdom by Tom Devine,
available from the Government Accountability Project (see first entry
below) for $13.95 plus $2.00 postage and packing. This is an
extremely valuable analysis of whistleblowing, and includes details
on US official channels, summarised very briefly below.
Government Accountability
Project (GAP) provides advocacy and legal assistance to
whistleblowers. With a 16-person staff, it can provide advice and
referrals. However, direct legal representation by GAP attorneys is
only possible in a fraction of cases. GAP has developed special
expertise in dealing with whistleblower rights, nuclear weapons
facility clean-ups, food safety, laws on environmental protection,
and national security abuses.
Address: 1612 K St., NW, Suite 400, Washington DC, 20006
Phone: (202) 408 0034
Fax: (202) 408 9855
Email: gap1@erols.com
West coast office:
1402 Third Avenue, Suite 1215, Seattle, WA 98118
Phone/fax: (206) 292 2850
Email: gap@whistleblower.org
The Giraffe Project
The Giraffe Project is a nonprofit organisation that moves people to
stick their necks out for the common good and helps them do it
better.
Integrity
International is a Washington-based non-profit group that
provides resources and support for whistleblowers. Dr Don Soeken who
can offer expert advice to whistleblowers.
Project on Government
Oversight (POGO) is a nonprofit organisation that
investigates government waste, fraud and abuse, including working
with whistleblowers inside the system.
Address: 1900 L Street NW, Suite 314, Washington DC 20036
Phone: (202) 466 5539
Fax: (202) 466 5596
Email: pogo@pogo.org
Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER) is a nonprofit organisation that
supports employees in government environmental agencies who are
seeking greater protection of the environment.
Address: 2001 S Street NW, Suite 570, Washington DC 20009
Phone: (202) 265 7337
Fax: (202) 265 4192
Email: info@peer.org
American Civil Liberties
Union, National Taskforce on Civil Liberties in the
Workplace uses public education and targeted court cases to
promote civil rights of all employees.
Address: 166 Wall Street, Princeton NJ 08540
Phone: (609) 683 0313
Fax: (609) 683 1787
Center
for Government Accountability
The Center for Government Accountability is a grassroots
whistleblower and Government dissident network and support
organization. It is particularly involved with Department of Energy
and American Indian issues currently.
Official channels Hotlines to receive reports of fraud, waste
or mismanagement are available in nearly every federal government
department and agency. However, GAP says "hotlines are in most cases
worthless at best": few reports are investigated and in many cases
the whistleblower's confidentiality is violated. In the private
sector, the equivalent of government hotlines are corporate voluntary
disclosure programmes. They appear to work no better than hotlines.
In the armed forces, service suggestion programmes provide rewards
for employees who make suggestions that save money. However, the
rewards are small and making suggestions can lead to reprisals. Most
government agencies have an internal office responsible for
investigating misconduct, usually called an inspector general (IG).
Whistleblowers should be wary of IGs: often they cover up problems,
doing damage control for management; sometimes they are corrupt
themselves; and they may act to discredit and attack whistleblowers.
The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) is a formal channel for
government whistleblowers to make disclosures. The OSC can refer
charges to the agency in question to answer, but does this only
rarely. GAP concludes that "an OSC whistleblowing disclosure is
likely to be unproductive or even counterproductive--unless it is
part of a larger strategy involving other institutions." One of the
most promising avenues for redress is to sue under the False Claims
Act. However, this can be highly expensive, open the whistleblower up
to blacklisting and prevent speaking out for the duration of the
case, often years.