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Q. How can I contact the Inspector General's Office (IGO)?
Anyone can contact the Inspector General's Office (IGO) if you have concerns or information about possible misconduct or sexual exploitation or abuse by any UNHCR staff member or other person working directly with UNHCR. You can contact the IGO if a staff member or other person associated with UNHCR has not behaved correctly.
Your complaint can be anonymous if you wish. If you prefer to share your identity, UNHCR follows strict confidentiality standards as well as other standards and procedural safeguards when undertaking investigations once you put your complaints forward. IGO safeguards the confidentiality of the identity of the person from whom, or the entity from which, it receives a report of possible misconduct. You can provide as much information and evidence as possible, and where to find evidence:
What alleged wrongdoing are you reporting?
Describe in detail what happened.
Who committed the alleged wrongdoing? Was anyone else involved? Provide full names and titles if possible.
When and where did it happen? Indicate dates and times, if available.
How did the individual commit the alleged wrongdoing?
Why do you believe the activity was improper?
Ways to contact IGO
Confidential fax: +41 22 739 73 80
Confidential email: inspector@unhcr.org
In person or by post: 94 rue de Montbrillant, CP 2500, 1211 Geneva
By using the Online Complaint Form: https://www.unhcr.org/igo-complaints.html
Mark all mail CONFIDENTIAL
If you'd like to find out more about the reporting process, please visit this page:
https://www.unhcr.org/admin/execoffice/4a1278f06/how-to-report-misconduct.html
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Accountability Beyond Review
International law scholars have long been debating how the evolving nature, character, and limits of the global administrative law could be applicable the hearings, acts, and decisions of UNHCR which remain not reviewable. But until such a paradigm shift happens, in instances when UNHCR commits procedural breaches in undertaking protection activities while playing a “state substitution role” and failing to advocate with the governments to protect the rights of the people, Inspector General's Office is the only available mechanisms for the affected populations to hold the organisation into account for not living up to their protection obligations.
While UNHCR outlines a framework of accountability through its existing mechanisms, their application and effectiveness need to be questioned on transparency and constructiveness of internal dialogue and learning with a responsive communication channel between refugees and UNHCR, one that transcends beyond formal participatory assessments and allows for real-time, unfiltered feedback. We could interpret the Inspector General's Office figures presented to Executive Committee to consistently represent a positive trend in UNHCR’s efforts to reinforce an internal system to address misconduct and create an environment in which the staff aggrieved by misconduct, and witnesses, feel able to speak up and report concerns without fear of retaliation or other negative repercussions for their careers or personal lives. However, the observed uptick trend in the Inspector General's Office's reports cannot be fully understood or validated without detailed data answering the following critical questions.
Questions:
- What is the number of complaints made by the persons of concern to UNHCR?
- Through which channels they were made?
- What they were about?
- How were they were resolved.
- What measures does UNHCR have in place to prevent and rectify indirect violations or acts of omission?
- How does UNHCR track and report on indirect violations or acts of omission within their operations?
- How are such instances handled and what steps are taken to mitigate their impact?
- What safeguards are in place to ensure accountability for such violations?
- How transparent and open to scrutiny are the internal processes of UNHCR in practice?
- Are there robust, accessible channels for refugees to voice grievances and provide unmediated feedback to seek corrective action?
- How does UNHCR handle internal criticism and use it to drive positive changes in their operations?
- In what ways can UNHCR improve its engagement with donors to ensure a transparent and honest representation of refugee situations?
- How could UNHCR foster a culture that values spontaneous and unfiltered feedback from those it serves?
