By Toby McIntosh
“The United States is withholding several millions in U.S. contributions to the International Civil Aviation Organization due to the organization’s inability to effectively implement whistleblower protections and ethics reforms agreed upon by the ICAO Council,” according to a State Department spokesperson.
The financial pressure comes as the 36-member ICAO Council is meeting this week in Montreal. On its agenda are proposed changes to its ethics policies, how to fill the vacant job of Chief Investigator and ICAO’s cyber-security efforts, according to documents reviewed by eyeonglobaltransparency.net.
ICAO has been rocked over the past several years by revelations from whistleblowers, including from Vincent Smith, a high-ranking ICAO official now on medical leave. Other whistleblowers drew attention to Chinese hacks of ICAO’s computers in 2016 and questioned the adequacy of ICAO’s response. (See a July interview with Smith by CBC News reporter Debra Arbec.) More recently, CBC reported that an ICAO official awarded $240,000 worth of consulting contracts to his Concordia University doctoral supervisor while still his student.
Such allegations and calls for whistleblower protections have embroiled ICAO Secretary General Fang Liu of China and the Council president, Nigerian Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu. CBC quoted Smith’s reports as describing ICAO’s atmosphere as “toxic and hostile,” characterized by “cronyism” and “favouritism.”
Follow EYE @tobyjmcintosh
State Department Critical
The Council is scheduled to consider amendments to its ethics policy this week, with the US applying pressure.
The Nov. 19 US statement sent to EYE says that “over the past year” the US has worked to “strengthen” ICAO’s “ethics framework in order to protect staff members from retaliation, harassment in all its forms, and ensure a fair and independent investigation process for allegations of wrongdoing.“
“However,” the statement continues, “we are disappointed with the lack of progress and commitment to implement these reforms.”
As a result, the US government is using a power granted by Congress that authorizes the withholding of funding from “entities that do not meet best practices related to access to audit reports, protection of whistleblowers from retaliation, and appropriate use of travel funds,” summarized State.
“Several millions” of dollars earmarked for ICAO are being withheld, according to the statement, for the first time officially confirming an Oct. 2 article by Reuters reporter Allison Lampert. The US provides almost a quarter of ICAO’s annual budget of around $75 million.
The State Department’s six-sentence statement stresses US demands for ICAO reforms in general terms, without specifically addressing the proposals now before the Council.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote to Secretary General Fang Liu Sept. 29 to emphasize US concerns, according to a Foreign Policy article by Colum Lynch, commenting that “Pompeo’s stern message—he wrote that actions at the aviation agency “do not reflect a commitment to UN best practices on whistleblower protection”—has been muddied by U.S. President Donald’s Trump efforts to discredit and unmask the identity of the White House whistleblower in the ongoing impeachment probe.”
On May 19, US Ambassador to ICAO Thomas Carter gave a speech in which he talked about dealing with an “entrenched bureaucracy” at ICAO. Lamenting the lack of an avenue for ICAO employees to being legitimate complaint of wrongdoing, Carter said, “For the entire year of 2017 prior to my arrival, I understand that 16 formal complaints were filed, with only one matter investigated, and that individual admitted to financial fraud.”
Council to Consider Ethics Policy Modifications
ICAO adopted a whistleblower policy in June, but it has yet to be posted for the ICAO staff to see.
In an Oct. 22 “Progress Report” for the Council, reviewed by EYE, the Secretary General offers changes to the ethics policy, saying they will “align” ICAO polices with UN policies and practices.” The whistleblower language is not significantly affected by the proposal. When the subject will come up this week is uncertain.
The ethics framework revisions overall would broaden who has authority to handle lessor problems, described as “unsatisfactory conduct and misconduct,” to include heads of departments, managers and supervisors, while assigning the handling of “serious misconduct” to the Ethics Officer, the Investigation Committee and others. One result would be to reduce the volume of matters sent to the ICAO Ethics Officer, the progress report says.
The Secretary General also recommends filling the post of “chief investigator,” a job that has been vacant since it was created by the Council in June of 2018. Both the Ethics Officer and Chief Investigator report separately to the Secretary General. One possibility mentioned as a choice for the Council would be to outsource the investigations to the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).
The report discusses the difficulties with the structure and work of the three-person “Investigations Committee,” also created in June of 2018, and charged with processing allegations and deciding whether or not to initiate an investigation.
Since the implementation of the new arrangement, the Investigations Committee has reviewed a total of 12 cases. Of this number, five cases were referred for investigation; three were closed, and four were referred for administrative action. All five cases referred for investigation were sent to external entities and still remain under investigation.
Subtle Shifts
An appendix lays out the proposed changes in the ICAO ethics framework , including some that seem subtle but could have significant effects, according to an EYE review.
One alteration would delete a mandate that “all” allegations of serious misconduct involving members of senior management be referred by the Investigations Committee to an external professional investigator. Instead, such referrals would apply only to allegations “that require investigation.”
Some definitions are changed.
For example, the definition of “misconduct” appears to be more subjective, no longer listing nepotism, intimidation, staying in a conflict of interest situation, mismanagement, or abuse of staff.
The right to appeal disciplinary matters is limited by a definition of disciplinary matters that now excludes “recovery of monies owed to the Organization.”
Another change deals with what should happen if a member of the Investigations Committee recuses him or herself. They would no longer pick their own replacement. Under the revised language, the replacement would be made by the Secretary General.
Text of the full Nov. 19 State Department statement
- The United States is deeply committed to advancing oversight, ethics, and accountability through our continuous support of independent ethics offices, enhanced oversight functions, and effective accountability mechanisms, including strong whistleblower protection policies.
- Over the past year, we have worked to strengthen the International Civil Aviation Organization’s ethics framework in order to protect staff members from retaliation, harassment in all its forms, and ensure a fair and independent investigation process for allegations of wrongdoing. However, we are disappointed with the lack of progress and commitment to implement these reforms.
- Under Section 7048(a) of the FY 2019 Appropriations Act, the Department can withhold certain contributions to entities that do not meet best practices related to access to audit reports, protection of whistleblowers from retaliation, and appropriate use of travel funds.
- The United States is withholding several millions in U.S. contributions to the International Civil Aviation Organization due to the organization’s inability to effectively implement whistleblower protections and ethics reforms agreed upon by the ICAO Council.
- We will continue to work with ICAO and our fellow member states to create a safe environment for staff and to increase transparency on issues of ethical conduct, changes critical to the future of the organization.
