The Integrity Advisors are getting to work on sexual abuse in the public sector

A gap in the support of civil servants who report moral or sexual harassment is being filled by the new institution Integrity Advisor which is directly activated in the public administration.

To date, a significant number of victims of verbal or physical sexual harassment, psychological violence and generally indecent behavior hesitate to make relevant complaints, as the relevant research of Social Polycenter of ADEDYwhich was recently introduced.

The complaint regarding the public sector should be made either to the hierarchical superiors or to the workers’ association (ADEDY’s Equality Secretariat), without, however, having an institutionalized procedure.

“The victim hesitates to report harassment because they fear abuse of power, that they will suffer vindictive behavior, or that they will not be believed. The Integrity Advisor addresses this gap. He is a person of trust who can advise the complainant confidentially how she should act based on the provisions and at the same time monitors the progress of the investigation of the report and informs the employee who submitted it. This whole process will not be carried out vaguely and abstractly but will be based on standardized procedures and specialized methods based on standards“, officials of the Ministry of the Interior report to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency.

They have already been trained at the National Center for Public Administration and Self-Government (EKDDA) and received the required certification of professional competence about 70 Councillors, who are gradually filling the corresponding positions established in public bodies, such as ministries (excluding the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Citizen Protection, of National Defense and Maritime and Island Policy), Independent Authorities, OTAs, etc.

In addition to sexual and moral harassment issues, as required by law, the Integrity Advisor provides advisory assistance on ethics and integrity issues facing the employee, including issues of discrimination, bullying and conflict of interest.

He is obliged to perform his duties with integrity, objectivity, impartiality, transparency and social responsibility and to act in the public interest and to respect and observe the rules of secrecy and confidentiality, for matters of which he became aware during the exercise of his duties.

According to the results of the ADEDY survey, the working environment of the public sector is favorable for sexist attitudes. The research was done on a sample basis through questionnaires to 697 civil servants and also through interviews with 26 female workers who have experienced abuse at least once in their workplace. Most stated that they are aware of unpleasant and mean personal comments, abusive, indecent or hostile treatment of employees and abusive behaviour.

In most cases there was no reaction from those around, either because the harassment was not widely known in the work environment, or because corresponding behaviors were treated as something given and common in the specific job or by a specific supervisor/colleague, while in several cases it was reported that the behavior this was also tolerated by their female colleagues.

In terms of dealing with the phenomena, most women reported that they knew that harassment, moral or sexual, is illegal, however, only two cases of sexual harassment managed to report the incident to the justice system, but no justice has been served so far, while in both cases the women were countersued for misleading the court.

Some research participants reported that they did not go through the process of reporting the incidents to their superiors because they knew they would not be protected, even though more than 20 incidents had witnesses.

Also, female workers report that formal complaints and legal redress are particularly difficult to achieve, and even when they know the procedures and where to go they do not do so, as they either fear reprisals or believe that things would become more difficult. in their work, while in other cases it is difficult to prove gestures, verbal or even physical attacks, in the absence of witnesses and general support from their work environment.

In order to deal with abusive phenomena in the State, ADEDY requests, among other things, the completion of the legislative framework and the implementation of the relevant legislation. In particular, it proposes the updating of the civil service code with specialized provisions on sexual harassment, “so as to create the necessary tools for the effective disciplinary prosecution of sexual harassment, as they already apply to the private sector”.

It is noted that the fight against forms of violent behavior and harassment was included in the recently revised code of ethics and professional conduct of public sector employees. According to him, public employees must avoid behaviors that contain acts of intimidation, oppression, sexual harassment or violence, which can be expressed verbally, physically or psychologically.

RES-EMP

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