Doing the Right Thing: Relief Agencies, Moral Dilemmas and Moral Responsibility in Political Emergemcies and War

In recent years a new generation of relief workers and relief agencies has become embroiled in the heat of civil wars and political emergencies, and the humanitarian community has had to revisit its fundamental principles and address the ethics of what it does. This paper sets out to continue this important debate by emphasising that ethical analysis should always be an essential part of humanitarian practice. The paper seeks to recognise the difficult moral choices relief agencies are facing today and gives some practical guidelines to relief agency staff when confronting the ethics of a given situation. In particular, it hopes to introduce some ethical principles into the debate about humanitarianism and contribute to the moral vocabulary which is being developed to improve relief agencies' ethical analysis. The paper starts by looking at the essential characteristics of a moral dilemma, and the way in which other types of tough choice can masquerade as moral dilemmas. It then introduces some basic moral principles surrounding the key ethical notions of action, consequences and moral responsibility in an effort to show how relief agencies might begin to develop a process of ethical analysis in their work. Finally, it explores how relief agencies might develop a more intuitive form of ethical analysis based on an organisational conscience and moral role models.     

Virtues and humanitarian ethics

This paper analyses the contribution of virtue ethics, the study of good character traits, to the humanitarian context. It argues that a virtue ethics perspective paints a realistic picture of the use of ethical standards in morally complex circumstances. Virtuous relief workers can employ standards in their thinking, but they are also committed to professional excellence that goes beyond any formal code. The concept of virtue ethics places a stress on moral development, which can be facilitated by role models that impart modest and feasible ideals. However, virtue ethics cannot provide simple guidelines on how to resolve difficult situations. It is possible that two virtuous persons can disagree on what should be done in a particular instance. In addition, a virtue ethics perspective emphasises the need for both individuals and organisations to discuss the actual purpose of relief work in order to pinpoint the virtues of a good relief professional.     

The Protection of Civilians and ethics of humanitarian governance: beyond intervention and resilience

The principle of the Protection of Civilians (PoC) in armed conflict has ethical repercussions in various actions undertaken by states and international organisations, from humanitarian relief, development aid, and peacekeeping, to warfare and military intervention. While the ethics of humanitarian intervention are instructive in this regard, most PoC practices should be conceived rather as modes of humanitarian governance across borders—from interventionist to resilience‐oriented kinds. The consequences of this for the ethics of PoC are explored in this paper, highlighting questions of power, culture, and complicity. By relating these questions to the ethical strands of solidarist and pluralist internationalism, it positions the ethics of PoC within the broader field of the ethics of world politics. Examples are drawn from recent scholarly debate on PoC efforts in war‐torn countries such as South Sudan. This analysis of the ethics of PoC reconfigures central positions in the debate on humanitarian intervention to an era of global humanitarian governance.     

Humanitarians' ethics: the role of face-to-face experiences in humanitarian aid workers' motivation

This paper analyses the significance of specific ethical experiences for humanitarian aid workers' motivation. Following Emmanuel Levinas's understanding of ethics as arising from intersubjective face-to-face encounters, the study illuminates the experiential origins of the humanitarian commitment by analysing James Orbinski's memoir entitled An Imperfect Offering: Dispatches from the Medical Frontline. Orbinski, a former International Council President at Médecins Sans Frontières, was directly involved in humanitarian responses to several major crises during the 1990s, including those in Somalia, Afghanistan, Rwanda, and what was then Zaire. This paper explores three formative experiences from Orbinski's childhood and teenage years to analyse the personal ethics of humanitarian aid workers and to illuminate the intersection of the personal and professional level of humanitarian aid work. Illustrating that Orbinski's humanitarian commitment is a surrendering to the other's call, the paper argues for stronger inclusion of aid workers' lives and experiences to achieve a comprehensive understanding of humanitarian work.     

The ethical contours of research in crisis settings: five practical considerations for academic institutional review boards and researchers

The number of research studies in the humanitarian field is rising. It is imperative, therefore, that institutional review boards (IRBs) consider carefully the additional risks present in crisis contexts to ensure that the highest ethical standards are upheld. Ethical guidelines should represent better the specific issues inherent to research among populations grappling with armed conflict, disasters triggered by natural hazards, or health‐related emergencies. This paper seeks to describe five issues particular to humanitarian settings that IRBs should deliberate and on which they should provide recommendations to overcome associated challenges: staged reviews of protocols in acute emergencies; flexible reviews of modification requests; addressing violence and the traumatic experiences of participants; difficulties in attaining meaningful informed consent among populations dependent on aid; and ensuring reviews are knowledgeable of populations' needs. Considering these matters when reviewing protocols will yield more ethically sound research in humanitarian settings and hold researchers accountable to appropriate ethical standards.     

The moral sense of humanitarian actors: an empirical exploration

This paper examines humanitarianism's moral positioning above private and political interests to save lives and alleviate suffering. It does not aim to assess the legitimacy of this stance, but rather to probe the way in which humanitarian actors relate to this moral dimension in their everyday work. It investigates empirically humanitarian ethics from the perspective of humanitarian actors, drawing on interviews conducted in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2014. As it is exploratory, three key conceptual innovations were required. The first of these is the introduction of the tools developed to consider a neglected reality: humanitarian actors’ ‘moral sense’ vis‐à‐vis the humanitarian sector's ‘moral culture’. Second, the study shows how the sector's moral culture is structured around the notion of ‘concern for persons in need’. Third, it analyses the way in which the sector and its actors handle the asymmetrical relationships encountered daily. Ultimately this paper seeks to valorise humanitarian actors’ creativity in their common practices and explore potential challenges to it.     

Ethical Codes in Humanitarian Emergencies: From Practice to Research?

Notable strides have been made in recent years to develop codes of conduct for humanitarian intervention in conflicts on the part of international NGOs and UN organisations. Yet engagement by the academic and broader research communities with humanitarian crises and ongoing complex political emergencies remains relatively ad hoc and unregulated beyond the basic ethical guidelines and norms developed within universities for research in general, and within the governing and representative bodies of particular academic disciplines. This paper draws on a case study of research on humanitarian assistance to Liberia during that country's civil war from 1989 to 1996. The difficulties faced by humanitarian agencies in Liberia led to the development of two key sets of ethical guidelines for humanitarian intervention: the Joint Policy of Operations (JPO) and Principles and Policies of Humanitarian Operations (PPHO). This paper seeks to address what lessons, if any, these ethical guidelines, together with different experiences of conducting research in war-torn Liberia, can provide in terms of the role of academic researchers--and research itself--in humanitarian crises.     

Between war and peace: humanitarian assistance in violent urban settings

Cities are fast becoming new territories of violence. 1 The humanitarian consequences of many criminally violent urban settings are comparable to those of more traditional wars, yet despite the intensity of the needs, humanitarian aid to such settings is limited. The way in which humanitarian needs are typically defined, fails to address the problems of these contexts, the suffering they produce and the populations affected. Distinctions between formal armed conflicts, regulated by international humanitarian law, and other violent settings, as well as those between emergency and developmental assistance, can lead to the neglect of populations in distress. It can take a lot of time and effort to access vulnerable communities and implement programmes in urban settings, but experience shows that it is possible to provide humanitarian assistance with a significant focus on the direct and indirect health consequences of violence outside a traditional conflict setting. This paper considers the situation of Port‐au‐Prince (Haiti), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Guatemala City (Guatemala).     

The application of geographic information systems and global positioning systems in humanitarian emergencies: lessons learned,programme implications and future research

Geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems and remote sensing have been increasingly used in public health settings since the 1990s, but application of these methods in humanitarian emergencies has been less documented. Recent areas of application of GIS methods in humanitarian emergencies include hazard, vulnerability, and risk assessments; rapid assessment and survey methods; disease distribution and outbreak investigations; planning and implementation of health information systems; data and programme integration; and programme monitoring and evaluation. The main use of GIS in these areas is to provide maps for decision-making and advocacy, which allow overlaying types of information that may not normally be linked. GIS is also used to improve data collection in the field (for example, for rapid health assessments or mortality surveys). Development of GIS methods requires further research. Although GIS methods may save resources and reduce error, initial investment in equipment and capacity building may be substantial. Especially in humanitarian emergencies, equipment and methodologies must be practical and appropriate for field use. Add-on software to process GIS data needs to be developed and modified. As equipment becomes more user-friendly and costs decrease, GIS will become more of a routine tool for humanitarian aid organisations in humanitarian emergencies, and new and innovative uses will evolve.     

Reflections: Resolving conflicting demands within disaster risk and recovery

This ‘reflection’ describes conflicting experiences, drawn from the author’s career in varied aspects of disaster risk management and recovery (1973–2016) delving into his memory, Ian Davis explores conflicts he has felt in four parallel roles he has adopted as architect, NGO board member, academic and the personal challenges he has faced working within the humanitarian sector. After describing these encounters, some practical solutions are suggested. The reflection concludes with a suggestion that at the root of these conflicts there is a need for people working in the humanitarian field to become more accountable in a downward direction towards those they seek to serve, who often lack power and influence. These include an architect’s clients, the beneficiaries of an NGO’s concern, an academic’s students or trainees and more broadly an ethical challenge that the author strives after, to regard his work as a vocation, highlighting the need for service to others rather than self-promotion.     

Work‐related stress in a humanitarian context: a qualitative investigation

There is a paucity of research on the subjective stress‐related experiences of humanitarian aid workers. Most evaluations of stress among these individuals focus on trauma and related conditions or adopt a quantitative approach. This interview‐based study explored how 58 humanitarian aid workers employed by a United Nations‐aligned organisation perceived the transactional stress process. The thematic analysis revealed eight main topics of interest: an emergency culture was found where most employees felt compelled to offer an immediate response to humanitarian needs; employees identified strongly with humanitarian goals and reported a high level of engagement; the rewards of humanitarian work were perceived as motivating and meaningful; constant change and urgent demands resulted in work overload; and managing work–life boundaries and receiving positive support from colleagues and managers helped to buffer perceived stress, work overload, and negative health outcomes. The practical implications of the results are discussed and suggestions made in the light of current research and stress theory.     

The humanitarian common logistic operating picture: a solution to the inter‐agency coordination challenge

Although significant progress has been made in developing the practice of humanitarian logistics, further improvements in efficiency and effectiveness have the potential to save lives and reduce suffering. This paper explores how the military/emergency services’ concept of a common operating picture (COP) can be adapted to the humanitarian logistics context, and analyses a practical and proven approach to addressing the key challenge of inter‐agency coordination and decision‐making. Successful adaptation could provide the mechanism through which predicted and actual demands, together with the location and status of material in transit, are captured, evaluated, and presented in real time as the basis for enhanced decision‐making between actors in the humanitarian supply network. Through the introduction of a humanitarian logistics COP and its linkages to national disaster management systems, local communities and countries affected by disasters and emergencies will be better placed to oversee and manage their response activities.     

Assessing the cost‐effectiveness of interventions within a humanitarian organisation

Cost‐effectiveness analysis is increasingly relevant in humanitarian action. The cost of response has increased exponentially in the past decade, alongside concurrent donor budget restrictions. However, there remains limited comprehension and application of these methods in this field. This paper documents methods developed for use within Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organisation, in response to a lack of understanding of this topic within the humanitarian community and limited evidence of the cost‐effectiveness of humanitarian action. These methods encompass costs to both implementing institutions and participating communities. Activity‐based cost analyses are conducted to assess resources per programme activity. Cost‐effectiveness is evaluated using successful programme outcomes, and uncertainty is appraised via sensitivity analysis. This paper aims to advance knowledge, stimulate discussion, and promote the adoption of cost‐effectiveness methods for building the evidence base for humanitarian action, including consideration of community costs, to enable analytical outputs that are useful for managers and policymakers alike.     

Putting affected people at the centre of humanitarian action: an argument for the principle of humanitarian subsidiarity

The humanitarian system has grown organically over the course of a generation to become a complex system bound by a common primary mandate. Its guiding principles provide it with a unique identity and separate humanitarian actors from other aid-related stakeholders. However, all of the evidence suggests that humanitarian actors will extend their reach and engage in new and unprecedented ways with an expanded mandate in years to come. Now, more than ever, they are challenged to retain the moral high ground and to put disaster-affected people at the centre of humanitarian action. Consequently, this paper proposes that the humanitarian system introduce a new principle: humanitarian subsidiarity. It moves the conception of subsidiarity beyond meanings ascribed by the Catholic Church and the European Union and links it instead to the attributes of agency, accountability, and trust to find accommodation with the core humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.     

Humanitarianism and Local Service Institutions in Angola

The role of local service institutions is not a major focus of current discourse on humanitarianism and complex emergencies. These institutions, in the few places where they are mentioned, are usually presented as either the seed of civil society and future democracy, or as pawns and components of the predatory economic, political and military élites. Few would deny that examples can be found which conform to both of these stereotypes. This simplistic representation of local institutions ignores the perspectives of the actors themselves — the nurses, extension agents, school teachers and others who actually staff most NGO-supported projects. The debate has focused on what ‘we’ should do; the moral dilemmas of aid agencies and their expatriate staff, inevitably leading to the question of whether or not humanitarian workers should stay or leave situations in which aid may be causing more harm than good. Without denying the fundamental importance of these issues, it is important to consider also how the discourse has unfortunately moved away from those humanitarian workers who have no such choice, since they live there. Current concerns about keeping humanitarian aid from feeding local political and military struggles may inadvertently and paradoxically serve to constrain room for man?uvre in the field, particularly among those individuals with the greatest tacit understanding of the predatory environment. There is a need to understand how actors in local service institutions make sense of their own situations, including the factors which frame their moral dilemmas and their day-to-day choices. By analysing the organisational processes within local service institutions, this study is intended to provoke consideration of how these individuals and their institutions may be effectively supported in complex emergencies through a focus on how they themselves deal with danger and complexity. It is suggested that there is a value in considering the lessons learnt in recent years about how service organisations in the North function in turbulent environments. This experience points to the importance of allowing workers the discretion to develop a relationship with their clients, and in so doing make sense of a confusing and ambivalent environment.     

From disaster to development: a systematic review of community‐driven humanitarian logistics

A plethora of untapped resources exist within disaster‐affected communities that can be used to address relief and development concerns. A systematic review of the literature relating to community participation in humanitarian logistics activities revealed that communities are able to form ad hoc networks that have the ability to meet a wide range of disaster management needs. These structures, characterised as Collaborative Aid Networks (CANs), have demonstrated efficient logistical capabilities exclusive of humanitarian organisations. This study proposes that CANs, as a result of their unique characteristics, present alternatives to established humanitarian approaches to logistics, while also mitigating the challenges commonly faced by traditional humanitarian organisations. Furthermore, CANs offer a more holistic, long‐term approach to disaster management, owing to their impact on development through their involvement in humanitarian logistics. This research provides the foundation for further theoretical analysis of effective and efficient disaster management, and details opportunities for policy and practice.     

Shelter strategies, humanitarian praxis and critical urban theory in post-crisis reconstruction

The paper seeks to link contemporary thinking on urban shelter in the humanitarian sector to debates in the field of 'critical urban theory'. It argues that current humanitarian thinking on urban shelter shares many common concerns with critical urban theory, but that these concerns are rarely translated effectively into humanitarian practice. It attributes this disconnect not only to weaknesses in implementation capacity, but also to the need to reorient humanitarian action to address more definitively questions of power and justice. Humanitarian actors need to step back from product-delivery approaches and find ways of integrating into their analytical, planning, implementation and monitoring tools questions about access, exclusion and the historically specific ways in which these aspects converge in particular urban spaces. By doing so, the humanitarian community would benefit from a more explicit, systematic and sustained engagement with the catalytic theoretical resources that critical urban theory has to offer.     

Preventing corruption in humanitarian assistance: perceptions, gaps and challenges

Corruption is a threat to the purpose of humanitarian assistance. Until fairly recently, humanitarian assistance has not been considered an important arena in broader efforts aimed at curbing corruption, and corruption has not always been considered a particularly important concern for humanitarian assistance despite the obviously challenging nature of the context of humanitarian emergencies. Corruption, though, is a threat to humanitarian action because it can prevent assistance from getting to the people who most need it, and because it can potentially undermine public support for such assistance. This paper examines perceptions of corruption and its affects, documents best practices, and outlines gaps in understanding. It suggests recommendations for improving the capacity of humanitarian agencies to prevent and manage the risk of corruption. Agencies have taken steps to combat corruption and improve accountability--downwards and upwards--but scope remains for improvement and for greater sharing of learning and good practice.     

The futility of rights‐based humanitarian aid to the Occupied Palestinian Territories

A rights‐based approach (RBA) to humanitarian aid is intrinsic to Norwegian policy and should inform Norwegian aid to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, one of the main receivers of Norwegian aid. However, this is the case only to a limited extent. While Norwegian humanitarian non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) take RBA seriously, and design their projects in accordance with its principles, they are unable to pursue a programme of long‐term structural change. This is because the main duty‐bearer, Israel, is indifferent or hostile to their work, while Norway's foreign policy is given higher priority than following through a rights‐based agenda. The result of this situation is a large, long‐standing aid effort that is unable to provide more than temporary relief in a steadily deteriorating situation. The Palestinian case suggests that RBA in humanitarianism may lead to frustration rather than human liberation when not backed up by political power.