Humanitarian feedback charity says abuse occurs in all types of organisations and in every country

The founder of the charity Talk To Loop, which provides an open platform for feedback on experiences of humanitarian aid, has responded to the BBC documentary and related articles about whistleblowers' experiences within the United Nations system: The Whistleblowers: Inside the UN.

Alex Ross, founder and Managing Director of Talk To Loop, said in response to the documentary: 

The Talk To Loop founder, who is a former international program director for British Red Cross, added:

Ms Ross pointed out that there have been numerous initiatives to train staff, create a safe working environment and hold perpetrators to account. Some include tools developed by the CHS Alliance, the Resource Support Hub and INTERPOL, among others.

Whilst the Talk To Loop founder acknowledges that these are all important efforts, she argues that there also needs to be an independent, safe place to report if there is not sufficient action being taken or a lack of trust in organisational and institutional systems.

Such a provision needs to be independent yet integrated into the existing ecosystem, to ensure the safety of survivors and whistleblowers, and to give organisations the opportunity to listen, learn, respond and act to bring about accountability and provide assistance.

Loop has been designed to do just that, says Ross. The Talk To Loop platform, launched in October 2021, has already helped victims of trafficking, survivors of Gender-Based Violence, people reporting fraud, and others, to channel their stories to the relevant duty-bearers.

Ross argues that is takes a whole community to protect the most vulnerable and that all in the community have a role. Her hope is that Loop can play its part in addressing the deeply rooted exploitation, abuse and fraud that is too prevalent in the humanitarian sector.

"We simply cannot continue to rely on culture-change within organisations alone. There are many good people within organisations doing good work but this is not always resulting in a safe environment. To truly be accountable to affected populations, we must have many different avenues depending on how a Survivor or Whistleblower feels safe to raise their concerns and that must include a locally adapted independent mechanism."