An essential role of the Ethics Office is to provide advice and guidance to personnel and management on ethical issues and dilemmas. Particularly, the Ethics Office provides conflict-of-interest assessments and guides personnel and management on how to manage conflicts-of-interest situations or how to mitigate any risks. 

The Ethics Office may also provide advice and guidance on the standards of conduct. FAO staff have duties and obligations under Article VIII of the FAO Constitution, Article I of the Staff Regulations, and Chapter 1 of the Staff Rules. They must act  in accordance with these duties and obligations at all times, in particular with the principles of integrity, impartiality and independence.

All FAO personnel are expected to act in accordance with the Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service issued by the International Civil Service Commission. These Standards have been incorporated into the FAO Administrative Manual.

The Ethics Office works with stakeholders across the Organization to ensure that FAO's policies in regards ethics and integrity are comprehensive, applicable and clear. 

Similarly, the Ethics Office collaborates with Ethics Offices from other UN entities to share knowledge on best practices and help ensure alignment, as needed, between entities in the UN common system.

The Ethics Office's mandate primarily focuses on preventing unethical behaviour and misconduct and promoting a values-based integrity framework. 

To do so, it offers briefings, webinars and trainings to personnel to help them understand the regulations, rules and policies of the Organization, as well as how to navigate ethical dilemmas. 

The Ethics Office also coordinates active bystander intervention trainings, with the support of FAO's Active Bystander Champions - colleagues across the Organization trained to facilitate dialogues on this topic.

The Ethics Office uses a combination of traditional and innovative means to communicate with personnel.

Helping foster an environment where FAO personnel can speak up when they witness misconduct is one of the Ethics Office's key contributions. The Ethics Office is the custodian of the FAO Whistleblower Protection Policy that sets out the framework for personnel to request protection against retaliation when they, for instance, report misconduct. 

The Ethics Office is responsible for receiving retaliation complaints and for conducting the prima facie review. Where the Ethics Office finds that there is a prima facie case of retaliation, the case will be submitted to the Office of the Inspector-General (OIG) for investigation.

All FAO personnel are required to report any breach of the Organization’s rules and to cooperate with the Organization’s oversight functions. An individual who makes a report in good faith has the right to be protected against retaliation. Acts of retaliation are considered misconduct.

Retaliation should be reported through the confidential hotline or through email to [email protected].

The Ethics Office can also be contacted in person (room A110) or via phone: +39 06570 53800.

The Ethics Officer is responsible for administering the FAO Annual Disclosure Programme, pursuant to Article I of the Staff Regulations.

Given FAO's overriding mandate of ensuring humanity's freedom from hunger, it must ensure transparency and hold itself and its personnel accountable for the funds it receives. For this reason, FAO upholds the highest standards of integrity and seeks to avoid or prevent situations of conflict of interest.

The primary purpose of the Annual Disclosure Programme is to manage, reduce or eliminate the risk of conflicts of interest arising from personnel's outside activities, personal relations or financial holdings, among others. Ways to mitigate this risk may include advising personnel to divest themselves of holdings, or to recuse themselves from a particular activity or an aspect of their official functions.

Every year, selected personnel who are required to file an Annual Disclosure Statement are notified by the Ethics Officer.

Results and analysis of the Annual Disclosure Programme are reported in the Ethics Office Annual Report, which is presented to the FAO Finance Committee yearly.