Code of Conduct
The standards of integrity, respect and independence every ILSI director, employee, and partner organisation is required to meet.
ILSI's code of conduct applies to every director, employee, volunteer and contracted corridor partner acting on ILSI's behalf, in every country where ILSI operates. It sets out the minimum standard of behaviour members, governments and employers can expect.
Core standards
- Respect and dignity. Every member is treated with respect regardless of nationality, gender, religion, language or legal status.
- Independence. No director, employee or partner may accept a personal payment, gift or benefit from a recruitment agency, employer or government official in connection with their ILSI role.
- Confidentiality. Member case information is handled under our privacy policy and shared only where necessary to help the member or where the member consents.
- Honest reporting. ILSI does not present unverified claims as fact in casework, research or advisory work — see our commitment to evidence-based reporting in research and policy.
- Non-retaliation. No one may be penalised for raising a genuine concern through ILSI's complaints process or whistleblower channel.
Breaches of the code of conduct are investigated under ILSI's disciplinary procedures and, where they involve suspected corruption, under our anti-corruption policy.
Applying the code across borders
ILSI operates across countries with different legal systems, languages and cultural norms, but the code of conduct does not vary by corridor. A staff member or partner in a destination country is held to the same standard of independence and respect as one in Nepal or the United Kingdom. Where local law sets a higher standard than the code in a specific area, local law applies; the code is a floor, not a ceiling, on acceptable conduct.
How the code is reinforced
Every ILSI employee and contracted corridor partner is required to acknowledge the code of conduct before beginning work on ILSI's behalf, and again at defined intervals afterward. New staff receive training on what each standard means in practice — for example, what counts as an acceptable versus unacceptable gift from an employer partner. Suspected breaches can be raised through ILSI's complaints process or, for serious wrongdoing, the confidential whistleblower channel. Training is repeated periodically rather than delivered only once, so that standards stay current as ILSI's corridors and partnerships evolve.