A message from Stephen M. Kohn, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Whistleblower Center and a Founding Partner of Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto.
We are at a turning point in combating transnational corruption. Highly effective laws enhancing enforcement and whistleblower protections have demonstrated the potential to successfully prosecute the largest and most powerful corrupt actors. When properly used, these laws have resulted in historic prosecutions.
However, most countries have not implemented effective anti-corruption laws or policies. Moreover, most international attorneys, NGOs, and human rights defenders are not aware of how the new, highly effective transnational anti-corruption laws work.
The result: the vast majority of whistleblowers who could be covered under these laws are not. Most corrupt activities that could be safely and confidentially reported are not.
Consequently, most corruption remains undetected or under-prosecuted. The bad actors win, while across the globe, human rights defenders and whistleblowers continue to face relentless retaliation.
The International Whistleblower Advocates was initially created to demand that State Parties attending the United Nations Anti-Corruption Conference support the National Whistleblower Center’s (NWC) proposal, Enhancing Foreign Bribery and Money Laundering Prosecutions.
This proposal calls upon countries to pass effective transnational anti-corruption laws based on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.S. Anti-Money Laundering Whistleblower Enhancement Act. It also calls for worldwide training so attorneys, human rights defenders, NGOs, and whistleblowers can take advantage of their existing rights.
But our mission has significantly expanded.
Whistleblowers have a right to know how they can safely and confidentially report foreign bribery, money laundering, and corruption in the commodities markets. They have a right to obtain compensation under existing laws that are widely ignored in countries suffering under the worst impacts of corruption.
Regardless of whether or not the United Nations will endorse implementing highly effective anti-corruption and whistleblower protection laws, the Defenders will go forward with international educational programming and will represent whistleblowers worldwide who have hard evidence of financial corruption that could reasonably result in a major successful prosecution.
We do not have the resources to represent every valid whistleblower. But where we cannot represent a whistleblower, we will strive to provide information to them, the NGOs that support them, or local attorneys, so they have an opportunity to use the best laws when they take the risks that all whistleblowers face.
There is no middle ground. Either strong whistleblower/anti-corruption laws are employed where needed, or corruption will continue to erode democracy, fair competition, environmental protections, and access to the wealth that corrupted nation-states steal from their people.
Whistleblowers need aggressive defenders so they do not lose important rights to confidentiality, and the compensation needed to protect themselves from retaliation and economic hardship.
