Whistleblowing and suppression of dissent

Contacts: advice and support

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).

*** Australia ***

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.

*** Britain ***

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.

*** Canada *** 

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.

*** New Zealand *** 

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.

*** South Africa ***

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.

*** United States ***

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.