Without clear criteria for determining suspects, police officers have frequently threatened to take women who are working on the street or in bars to Ramany hospital on suspicion of prostitution. The hospital’s high-security status means that it has armed guards, creating an intimidating atmosphere for the women, and making it easier for police to keep them there, although they are forced to sign a document attesting that they had come of their own will.

The threat of the high security hospital has been used more frequently to extort large sums of money than to bring substantive cases. If the suspected prostitutes refuse to pay the police directly, they are brought to the hospital for examination. At this point, the amount of the bribe skyrockets as doctors become involved in the extortion. In such a system, women were rightly concerned that their medical records would be falsified (affecting their ability to continue working) or that they would be forced to pay further bribes for questionable ‘medical treatment’. The prostitutes, largely unaware of specifics of this legislation and their legal rights, feel helpless in the face of this corruption.

Upon hearing the complaint, the Baku ALAC sent letters to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of National Security and the Prosecutor General. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs maintained that the police had acted within the law, the ALAC’s intervention sparked a number of changes. At the request of the Prosecutor General, the Minister of Health removed Ramany Hospital's high-security status, reducing the opportunity for extortion.

Beyond demonstrating that it is possible to fight back, this will eventually contribute to improvements in the legitimate treatment of venereal diseases (including HIV/AIDS) as they come to be treated as medical and social problems, rather than having their stigma abused for corrupt ends.

Launched in July 2007, Transparency International’s short documentary, 'Agents of Change', portrays the work of TI’s Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres in Romania and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Directed by TI Communications Officer, Jesse Garcia, the film was selected to be screened at the 10th annual 'One World – International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival' in Prague, Czech Republic in March (www.oneworld.cz)

Turning frustration into a force for good. 'Agents of Change' helps to reveal the human stories behind systemic corruption. In addition to investigating the operation of the centres, how they assist clients, and how this work helps TI chapters advocate for systemic reform, the film tells the stories of three particular clients: two in Romania and one in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Shuttling between the countries, home to two of the most established centres, the film tells the story of how they navigated institutions rattled by war, dictatorship and the growing pains of political and economic transition.

The film also looks at the staff of the centres: motivated, well-qualified people who often forsake better-paying jobs in the private sector to serve their fellow citizens.

It is TI’s hope that the film will help to mobilise more citizens to use the centres as well as to stand up to corruption. “We hope this film stimulates citizens to demand their rights,” says the film’s director, Jesse Garcia. “But we also hope that it will show viewers outside the region, that people in South-Eastern Europe are not only not passive in the face of corruption, but that many have devoted their lives to helping fight it.”

An employee of the Romanian Child Protection Agency lodged a complaint on suspicion that a child in state foster care might have become the victim of illegal adoption or trafficking.

Even before the administrative complaint was processed, the employee was fired from her job – she suspected, as a result of her efforts to expose alleged wrongdoing that might implicate others within the state child protection system.

She went to TI Romania’s Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) in downtown Bucharest, where she received expert assistance in formulating a complaint against her dismissal.

“This is a classic example where an employee is unaware of their rights under the law, while their employer, in this case the state, is similarly unaware or chooses to ignore it,” said the ALAC advisor who handled the complaint.

As the advisor further explained, the public servant should have been protected by new whistleblower legislation, adopted by the Romanian parliament in 2004, after successful lobbying by Transparency International. Under this law, public employees are protected against retaliation for lodging legitimate complaints about unethical behaviour.

TI Romania began advocating for this important piece of legislation with the Romanian Ministry of Justice after having seen a number of similar cases in their ALAC involving public employees from a variety of state agencies. They included two customs officials dismissed for investigating a case of suspected bribery in their department. Not only had their superior refused to look into the case, he had also forbidden them from doing so, firing them when they did so anyway.

Although the whistleblowing law had yet to come into force, ALAC lawyers counseled the two on how to formulate a complaint against their dismissal and gave them advice on how to plead in court. A magistrate eventually overturned their dismissal. One of the customs officials was re-instated, while the other chose not to return to the job.

Successes such as this one helped TI Romania to convince law-makers there was a gap in legislation, leading to the creation of the whistleblower law.

Meanwhile the former employee of the Child Protection Agency remains on suspension while her case is dealt with by the courts and monitored by the Bucharest ALAC. Hers and other complaints brought to the Romanian ALAC continue to show that, even with a legislative framework to protect those who suspect wrongdoing at their place of work, much remains to be done to educate public workers about the law.

Raising the public’s awareness of their right to report corruption and providing advice on how to navigate the relevant laws are central to the grass roots advocacy work of TI ALACs, now operating in twelve countries in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus.

“The fight against corruption and bad practice inside public bodies can only be successful if public servants are willing and encouraged to come forward to expose abuse,” said the legal advisor at the Bucharest ALAC. “The first step was to create the law to protect whistle blowers. But public servants must also know that the law exists and how to use it. And state agencies must know that their employees have a right to this protection and that they can no longer flout the law.”