Ethics & Transparency
At Global Sumud Flotilla, our mission is rooted in dignity, discipline, collective care, and accountability. We believe that the courage required to challenge the siege and complicity must be matched by the integrity with which we treat one another.
Solidarity with Palestine starts with living in solidarity with each other.
We have a holistic accountability and dispute resolution structure in place. Anyone who witnesses or experiences a violation or breach of our Code of Conduct has a confidential, trusted, protected pathway to raise concerns. This helps better ensure that every concern is investigated adequately, responsibly, and with integrity.
After our first mission in September 2025, we undertook a serious review of the mission, and amongst the findings was the need for a stronger accountability infrastructure.
Our first mission was organised in just two months under extraordinary conditions. While conflict resolution mechanisms existed, we did not have a fully developed global structure necessary to receive, review, and investigate complaints at the level our growing international movement requires.
Our Ethics Committee was established in January 2026 in response to all the lessons we learnt.
We also maintain a dedicated conflict resolution process for disputes that do not involve serious violations and breaches of our Code of Conduct. Where appropriate and safe, these pathways — including mediation, sharing circles, workshops, or facilitated conflict resolution — may also form part of the response.
The Ethics Committee is made up of external legal professionals who are independent and entrusted with safeguarding fairness, confidentiality, procedural integrity, and ensuring due process.
In all cases related to the Steering Committee, the Ethics Committee operates independently from the Steering Committee.
This independence is essential to ensure impartial review, especially when the misuse of power, decision-making authority, or the behavior of those in positions of leadership are called into question.
Our teams implement a dispute resolution framework rooted in three complementary approaches:
Restorative
Accountability that creates the possibility for reflection, repair, learning, and growth. Our approach rejects punitive public shaming or "cancel culture", and instead centers meaningful responsibility, changed behavior, and restored trust wherever possible.
Transformative
We do not focus only on interpersonal harm. We also examine the conditions, environments, cultures, and systems that may have contributed to that harm. This means addressing not only what happened between individuals, but also organisational structures, norms, or operational pressures that may need to change to prevent future harm.
Protective
Our missions take place in high-risk political and physical environments, which often requires us to take rapid decisions to safeguard participants, protect the mission, and reduce immediate risk. In these situations, urgent protective measures may need to precede longer restorative or transformative processes. This is not a contradiction of our values, but part of the responsibility of operating in high-stakes conditions.
We understand that speaking up about harm, misconduct, abuse, or breaches of trust can be difficult. People may fear retaliation, rejection, political pressure, being doubted, escalation, or isolation. Which is why we are committed to our accountability processes.
If you have experienced or witnessed conduct that does not align with our values, we encourage you to submit a complaint with as much clarity as you can. Even when details feel partial, uncertain, or difficult to organize, coming forward can make a real difference in ensuring concerns are responsibly reviewed and properly addressed.
Complaints may be submitted anonymously. They are reviewed with the same seriousness, rigor, and commitment to accountability as named complaints.
We recognize that many people may fear retaliation, public scrutiny, or political-based pressure when raising concerns. Individuals can report safely and confidentially, without revealing their identity.
As a party to an Ethics Committee complaint, you have the:
Right to privacy
Right to due process
Right to transparency of process
Right to appeal
We are building political and moral practices worthy of the world we are fighting for — one rooted in collective liberation, principled struggle, and responsibility towards one another.
That means taking harm seriously, refusing impunity in our own spaces, and ensuring that accountability is not performative, but real.