ILGA Asia has a high standard of openness, honesty and responsibility. We are proud of our reputation and a well functioning organisation. We expect staff, board, members, partners and others that are affected by our work to report possible threats and serious flaws in the organisation and things that may hurt ILGA Asia. This policy is supposed to facilitate reporting that can lead to ILGA Asia discovering and being able to fix any problems in the organisation. It is part of our quality assurance. The policy complements important steering documents and contains guidelines that apply to the organisation. ILGA Asia's staff and board members are expected to follow the policy, but those who work for and attend ILGA Asia's events, meetings, conferences, projects, and other activities can use the same mechanisms to report irregularities.
This policy links to ILGA Asia Anti Harassment and Anti Sexual Harassment Policy and will ensure feedback, transparency and learning which will strengthen ILGA Asia’s accountability as an organisation.
What is meant by wrongs?
Wrongs according to this policy involve illegal or unauthorized behaviour, like the following:
Unauthorized actions, without prior an proper authorization from the line manager
Violation of ILGA Asia’s code of conduct
Actions that go against ILGA Asia's policies and guidelines or damaging negligence to carry out these steering documents
Unprofessional behaviour that harms ILGA Asia
Misleading accounting or accounting praxis
Actions that may harm a person or a property
Serious abuse of power or position of trust
Discrimination and harassment
Biased handling of conflicts of interest
What is whistleblowing?
Whistleblowing is defined as reporting instances of wrong, dishonest or illegal activity, like waste or losses, error, mismanagement or dishonesty that may harm individuals or our organisation. This may relate to people issues and/or business issues and it could involve stakeholders.
Protection of a whistleblower
The individual addresses a problem according to this policy is expected to:
Inform ILGA Asia in good faith for the good of ILGA Asia
Believe that there are good grounds to believe that the problem is true
Not have a hidden agenda or make false accusations
Not seek personal or financial gain
A whistleblower is an important asset for ILGA Asia and all of ILGA Asia's stakeholders and is to be protected with the recourses the organisation has to offer. Retaliation against a whistleblower is not tolerated. The Thai office's management and the Executive Board should guarantee this. An eventual report that is made out of malice or knowingly on false grounds might however lead to disciplinary action.
Who should you contact?
To report something that pertains to this policy, use one of the following options:
Contact the Executive Director (director@ilgaasia.org) or the Executive Board (board@ilgaasia.org) member you prefer
E-mail ILGA Asia’s Co-chairs (cochairs@ilgaasia.org) or Executive Director
If a report refers to the Executive Director and the Co-chairs, one of the board member can be contacted. You can leave a report anonymously, but the contact information of the reporting person is appreciated and eases the investigation.
How ILGA Asia will respond
ILGA Asia will act upon suspicions that are reported according to this policy. To protect everybody involved and those who are suspected of possible offences, a first investigation will be made confidentially to determine if a bigger investigation is needed, and how it should be done. If immediate action is required to stop possible offences and minimize the damage for ILGA Asia, such measures will be taken before an investigation has been conducted.
The Thai office's management or the Executive Board can initiate an intervention, refer the case to the authorized accountant, take disciplinary measures and/or refer the case to appropriate authorities. The overriding principle that ILGA Asia will base its actions on is the organisation and its members' interests.
Recommended structure in a whistleblower report
What has happened? Where has it happened? Be as detailed as possible. When has it happened?
Who was involved?
Is it predicted to happen again and in that case when and where?
Who else might have information about the above-mentioned incident or can have access to relevant information?
Is there any documentation that can serve as evidence? If so, please include this information.
Is there any other information that might be relevant or useful for the investigation or in any other way?
Responsibility for this policy
The Executive Director (director@ilgaasia.org) is responsible for informing about this policy and should see to it that it is followed and revised as needed. In such a case where the Executive Director is the subject of a Whistleblower report, the Co-chairs (cochairs@ilgaasia.org) will assume this responsibility.
Monitoring and review of policy and procedure
This policy will be monitored and reviewed. The Executive Director is accountable to the Co-chairs for managing and maintaining this policy. The Executive Director is accountable for ensuring that their functional team understands and adheres to this policy in their day-to-day work. Where compliance issues are surfaced, the Executive Director will work with board members to address these issues promptly.
Any updates/revisions to the policy must be endorsed by the Executive Director before their approval by the Executive Board. As part of the annual review and reflection process, ILGA Asia staff will reflect on the learnings from the whistleblowers and constructive feedback received.