By Toby McIntosh
The US government approves of steps taken by the governing Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization to protect whistleblowers, but the State Department has not said the changes will end a partial blockage of financial support for ICAO.
A statement from the State Department spokesperson provided to eyeonglobaltransparency.net hints more needs to be done.
The US is withholding “several millions” in U.S. contributions to ICAO because of its concern that a whistleblower police was not being implemented. (See eyeongobaltranspaency.net report of Nov. 20.) Follow EYE on Twitter @tobyjmcintosh.
A State Department spokesperson Dec. 5 praised the Council for approving “immediate implementation of revisions to ICAO’s protection against retaliation policy, which were first agreed to by the Council in June.” He noted that “the Council expects ICAO’s Secretary General to publish this revised Service Code to include the new protection against retaliation policy as soon as possible.”
No Assurance US Funds Are Restored
But State held back on saying whether ICAO’s action would result in a reopened checkbook, calling it “a step towards addressing concerns.”
“However,” State’s reaction continued, “ICAO needs to build-on an effective ethics program.”
“As a next step,” according to the State spokesperson, “ICAO is expected by the Council to complete the ongoing recruitment of a new Ethics Officer who meets the qualifications spelled out in the vacancy notice and can credibly be considered as independent and free of conflicts of interest.”
ICAO has been rocked over the past several years by revelations from whistleblowers.
The 36-member Council at its meetings during the week of Nov. 20 discussed its ethics policy, but what was decided remains unclear. The Council does not announce proposed policies or announce its decisions. Only several months from now will ICAO release Council minutes, which are sold for hundreds of dollars (officials say exceptions can be made).
ICAO’s Assembly, in which all 193 members participate every three years, met in October and adopted a resolution directing the ICAO Council and the Secretary General to “take further concrete steps to increase transparency.” The language closely tracks the wording of a proposal from the United States, but does no define specific transparency reforms.
An ICAO spokesman said, “It will be the role of the Council to determine how to implement the Resolutions of the Assembly.”
US officials declined to be interviewed.
ICAO is one of the least transparent UN bodies, although the Assembly meetings are uncharacteristically open, with documents released in advance. (See EYE story). The Assembly sessions and some of the committee meetings that precede it are live-streamed. One exception was the Executive Committee, which among other things worked on climate change matters. (See EYE article.)
For the regular meetings of the governing Council and standing committees, ICAO has restrictive policies on access to documents and meetings. ICAO lacks a freedom of information policy. (See EYE report.)
