Safeguarding and responsible conduct

1. Commitment

Unity Bridge aims to prevent harm, exploitation, harassment, retaliation and avoidable exposure arising from its activities, communications, partnerships and data practices.

2. Who this covers

The principles apply to staff, governing persons, volunteers, contractors, project participants and partners acting on behalf of Unity Bridge. Agreements may impose more specific requirements.

3. Core expectations

• Treat people with dignity and without discrimination
• Obtain informed consent appropriate to the context
• Do not exploit power, dependency or access to assistance
• Minimize collection and exposure of sensitive personal or political-risk data
• Do not publish identifiable case stories without valid permission and risk review
• Escalate immediate safety concerns through an appropriate secure route

4. Digital and information safety

Civic and Belarus-related work may create heightened security risks. Teams should use least-privilege access, data minimization, secure authentication, need-to-know sharing and context-appropriate threat assessment.

5. Reporting concerns

Concerns may be reported to the public contact with “Safeguarding” in the subject. If ordinary email would create risk, request a secure channel without including sensitive details. Retaliation against a good-faith reporter is not accepted.

6. Response

We assess immediate safety, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, evidence preservation, legal obligations and referral needs. Information is shared only with people who need it to respond responsibly.