Mark Worth, Fighting for Rights and Transparency with the European Centre for Whistleblower Rights and Whistleblowing International

By Sarah Bumberger

This is the first of our renewed Humans of the Hub series! The show that sheds light on members of The Hague Humanity Hub, their work and their organisations. For our first episode, we invited a very special guest: Mark Worth, the Executive Director of the European Center for Whistleblower Rights and Whistleblowing International.  

If you want to know more about whistleblowing: why it is an important tool for protecting human rights, fighting corruption and strengthening democracy, then tune in and listen to this episode about reporting suspected wrongdoing and protecting those that bravely blow the whistle on unjust, corrupt, or damaging practices:

MEET MARK 

A whistleblower caseworker, legal advisor, policy analyst; award-winning investigative journalist, campaigner, and trainer: Mark Worth is a multifaceted person who has worked on protecting the rights of whistleblowers and citizens combatting corruption on a daily basis since the mid-1980s. “Back then, the word whistleblower didn’t exist. We called them a tipster or a source of information. And when the concept of whistleblower protection came forward as a policy initiative in the 1990s with the UN Convention against Corruption, I combined the two ideas of using journalism and activism to build whistleblower protection policies.”, Mark says. 

Today, Mark and his team write whistleblower law, track how it works in practice and develop successful strategies to win cases for lawyers. Above and beyond this, Mark tries to ensure that whistleblower policies are solid and that every practitioner involved in a whistleblower case knows what they are doing, including the whistleblower themselves.  

MARK AND THE HUB  

Having lived and worked all over the world, Mark is now based in The Hague benefiting from the city’s unique ecosystem, which provides him with many more opportunities to work with international organisations, human rights defenders, lawyers and activists on this issue. As the first whistleblower group in the City of Peace and Justice, Mark has already participated in numerous events, seminars and web causes to fight for even better protection for whistleblowers, pointing out: “If anyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and help us help these vulnerable witnesses, we’d love to work with you. Start research projects, start campaigns, spread the word on how to help these folks and most importantly investigate the corruption they expose.” 

Thank you, Mark, for being our first podcast guest! If you’re interested in getting in touch with Mark, feel free to contact him on LinkedIn or send him a message on Slack. And be sure to visit Whistleblowing International and the European Center for Whistleblower Rights.  

What is Humans of the Hub?  

For a more detailed explanation of Humans of the Hub format, see our latest blog article by clicking here. Should you wish to take part in one of our podcast episodes, simply write a message to communication@humanityhub.net – We look forward to your requests!