Category Archives: Ethics

The ethics of care versus humanitarian exceptionalism

Arnaud Dandoy • Faculté de Droit et des Sciences économiques de l’université d’État d’Haïti

A. Dandoy

What if we say that humanitarian workers themselves arouse the hostility they sometimes face because of the symbolic and socially dominant relationships they maintain with their local personnel? This is the hypothesis, drawn from his own study, that Arnaud Dandoy, doctor of criminology, has developed here. While the author praises the virtues of the ethics of care over those of Kantian ethics, this is not a basic philosophical exercise, buta prerequisite for a better understanding of the widening gap between humanitarian workers and local populations.

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Challenges and dilemmas in the implementation
of ethical standards in humanitarian programmes

Gwenaëlle Luc-Menichelli • Socio-anthropologue, Action contre la Faim

G. Luc-Menichelli

In this new article devoted to ethics, Gweanëlle Luc-Menichelli ploughs the furrow of an approach to humanitarianism that is respectful as possible of the populations. Establishing the link with the previous contributions she strives to confront even more the rules of ethics with their implementation. Read the article →

Humanitarian ethics and international relations: Contradictions or (re)conciliations?

Virginie Troit • Fonds Croix-Rouge française

virginie-troit

V. Troit

Continuing the theme developed by Jean-François Mattei and Pierre Le Coz in the last two issues of our review, Virginie Troit attempts here to clear the way for ethics in humanitarian action. In doing so, the author – general delegate to the French Red Cross Fund – considers both the context of international relations and the demands of humanitarian practices. Two constraints that, quite often, prevent NGOs from giving ethics the place that undoubtedly must be theirs.

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Ethical deliberation at the service of humanitarian action

Pierre Le Coz • Université Aix-Marseille (UMR 7268 ADES/EFS/CNRS)

PierreLecoz

P. Le Coz

From the morals of the action that presided over humanitarian impulse to the ethical deliberation that provides a framework for the moral dilemmas it increasingly gives rise to, there is but one step to be taken. Pierre Le Coz suggests that we adopt a methodical approach that could bridge the gap between one and the other. Based on philosophy and building on already advanced work in the medical field, the author proposes to raise the awareness of humanitarian actors to this rising concern – ethics. It is up to the humanitarians themselves to cover the rest of the way, by reducing it to their reality and their constraints. 

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