Ethics Office

Children at the playground of the renewed Koranic school, in Bol, in the West of Chad.

Ethics Office

An independent Office promoting an ethical and values-based culture within UNICEF

The Ethics Office promotes and supports an ethical and values-based culture within UNICEF, across the UN system and with our partners and communities in serving the world’s children. We operate under the principles of independence, impartiality and confidentiality.

Ethics at UNICEF is grounded in the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations , the Standards of Conduct for International Civil Service and UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.

What we do

The Ethics Office supports all UNICEF employees – including staff, consultants, volunteers, interns and other non-staff personnel – to help them better understand and apply the organization's ethical standards and expectations, and equip them to make ethical decisions that are aligned with our rules, standards of conduct and Core Values .

Advice and guidance

Training and outreach

Policy input

Financial disclosure

Protection against retaliation (whistle-blower protection)

To learn more, please see our current and past Annual Reports .

Leadership

UNICEF/UN0311115

El Cid Butuyan is the Director of UNICEF’s Ethics Office. He joined UNICEF in June 2021 following a career that has spanned integrity, ethics, and legal practice.

Most recently Cid was Integrity Lead at the Green Climate Fund, and before that he worked at the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, helping build the Ethics Office and function. The bulk of Cid’s career has been with the World Bank Group, where spent over 15 years between the Integrity Unit and Legal Department. He has also served in the public sector as Antitrust Commissioner of the Philippine Competition Commission, with the rank of Under Secretary/Deputy Minister, and was an Impeachment Prosecutor in the historic first impeachment against a sitting Philippine President for plunder/grand corruption.

Cid has been a Lecturer at Harvard Law School and Visiting Professor at the University of Hawaii. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of the Philippines.

Ethics Office

What we do

Leadership

Reviewing and investigating misconduct allegations

Strengthening our culture

Protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse

Working at UNICEF

Ethics Office

Other units and efforts promoting ethics and values at UNICEF:

Reviewing and investigating misconduct allegations

Strengthening our culture

Protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse

Working at UNICEF