From Taking the Blame to Tacking Responsibility – Towards Aspirational Ethics of the International Civil Service.

The movement towards institutionalization of ethics in international organizations came about as a reaction to widespread corruption, misuse of power, as well as pressure from national governments that threatened to withdraw funding if transparency policy and ethics codes were not adopted. The UN followed in the footsteps of traditional Weberian bureaucratic tradition that advised for control mechanism over the power of the civil service. In the beginning of the 21st century, the UN and other institutions created Ethics Offices, which provide advice, training, as well as protection to whistleblowers from retaliation. The advice is not always black and white – sometimes, staff are told that certain action is permissible, even if it is not advisable. The training is done online, which removes the social aspect of ethics, turning it into a multiple-(obvious)-choice exercise. And the existing protection from retaliation has not instilled confidence in the bureaucracy that “doing the right thing” would not end up as a scapegoat of a cover up as in the case of Anders Kompass. However, there are other ethical dimensions to the global bureaucracy and the organizational culture of intergovernmental organizations. The legal and moral obligation to the function of the organization is what bring together the “invisible college of international civil servants”. The ethical principles in the UN Charter – independence, international character, integrity, efficiency and competence – are an expression of the global public trust that defines the institution of bureaucracy. In order to rise above the punitive culture, there needs to be an incentive system, in-person training that emphasizes ownership of the function and purpose of the organization, positive recognition, and an ethical element to performance evaluation as part of the promotion system. Most importantly, the leadership of the UN has to recognize the mistakes that were made and to take responsibility to the global society, in order to learn and move forward constructively, away from the culture of impunity and secrecy.