WASHINGTON, D.C. | November 7, 2023 — National Whistleblower Center (NWC) is among 301 civil society organizations and experts who signed on an open letter to UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) State Parties calling for a strong resolution to be adopted at the upcoming Conference of State Parties (CoSP) 10 to prevent and combat environmental crime and corruption.
NWC has been invited to participate in CoSP 10, the main policymaking body of UNCAC, which is being hosted by the U.S. government in Atlanta, GA December 11-15. The open letter explains that “corruption has a seismic impact on the environment and the climate” and calls for a CoSP resolution which addresses the ways corruption enables environmental damage and undermines efforts to combat climate change.
“NWC is proud to sign on to this impactful letter as we prepare to observe CoSP 10,” says NWC Executive Director Siri Nelson. “We have a long legacy of bringing whistleblowers to the forefront of discussions about the fight against environmental crime, and are honored to be joined by so many other important NGO’s.”
“Corruption and environmental crime are intimately linked,” says NWC’s Chairman of the Board Stephen M. Kohn. “By targeting the corruption at the heart of environmental crime, UNCAC State Parties can go a long way in protecting wildlife and combating the climate crisis.”
NWC Senior Wildlife and Climate Policy Advisor Scott Hajost worked with the UNCAC Civil Society Coalition Environmental Crime and Corruption on the letter and helped in securing sign-ons from around the world. “It is gratifying to see such diverse civil society come together to promote concrete action under UNCAC to combat corruption related environmental crime and recognizing the role that whistleblowers can and should play,” says Hajost.
Hajost has played a pivotal role in including NWC and whistleblower issues in efforts to combat environmental crime. In 2016, NWC was selected as one of the four Grand Prize Winner of USAID’s Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge.
In 2020, NWC launched a Climate Corruption Campaign to educate potential whistleblowers in the fossil fuel and industrial logging industries – as well as those in enabling industries like banking and securities – about their rights under U.S. whistleblower laws.
NWC Executive Director Siri Nelson is available for comment. For more information, contact NWC at info@whistleblowers.org.
