Whistleblowing in the Foreign Service

Issues of concern are defined as breaches of legislation, internal guidelines, or ethical standards. Examples of issues of concern include:  

• harassment or other improper conduct;
• discrimination;
• substance abuse, gambling or online addiction; 
• situations that place the health and safety of people at risk;
• other factors that undermine the right to a fully satisfactory working environment; 
• financial irregularities such as embezzlement, theft, fraud, corruption or other misuse of funds within the organisation and/or by external partners;
• disclosure of confidential information; 
• improper storage of sensitive documents; 
• abuse of authority; 
• breaches of the personal data protection rules.

See here for more information about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ guidelines for whistleblowing in the Foreign Service.

Reporting issues of concern involving grant recipient organisations

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a policy of zero tolerance of financial irregularities, corruption and other misuse of public funds, as well as for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH). See here for more information about Foreign Service’s guidelines for following up reports of financial irregularities and SEAH involving grant recipients.

Who to contact about issues of concern

Issues of concern should be reported to the Foreign Service Control Unit (FSCU) by email: s-kontrollenhet@mfa.no.

Issues of concern can also be reported to the Foreign Service’s external whistleblowing channel at Ernst & Young (EY): external whistleblowing channel (link) or by telephone +47 24 00 20 14.

Issues of concern can always be reported anonymously regardless of which channel is used.

Reports can be made anonymously to EY via the external notification channel. The report can be made completely anonymously, or the whistleblower can provide his or her name to EY but remain anonymous vis-à-vis the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This enables EY to take contact to obtain or provide more information about the case. Those who choose to remain anonymous will have limited ability to follow up the report due to a lack of information.