INTRODUCTION This paper aims to raise awareness regarding ethical issues in the context of humanitarian action, and to offer a framework for systematically and effectively addressing such issues. METHODS Several cases highlight ethical issues that humanitarian aid workers are confronted with at different levels over the course of their deployments. The first case discusses a situation at a ma...

The concept of protecting civilians in armed conflict is enshrined in international humanitarian law and widely acknowledged in humanitarian norms. Making this concept operational in humanitarian service delivery is a challenge. Yet, there are many ways in which humanitarian workers could learn from local people about underlying tensions in their community and with these new insights adjust ser...

The literature on evidence-based action in humanitarian crises commonly focuses on how inter-and non-governmental organisations can produce better knowledge and how this can be translated into improved programming. Yet, there is little recorded experience of, or concern about, how the beneficiaries of humanitarian relief can produce and use knowledge of their predicament. This paper is based on...

Cities are fast becoming new territories of violence. 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 ...

In this article I set out an agenda of good practice for today's humanitarian practitioner. I first outline the distinctive political and conflict-related features of today's complex political emergencies, and the new interventionist strategies of the international community and the United Nations in responding to them. From this description of the new operating environment faced by humanitaria...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide future researchers with a framework for conducting research in the unique field of humanitarian logistics. Design/methodology/approach – The authors categorized humanitarian logistics research articles. Borrowing from the theory of constraints and management information systems literature, the authors developed a framework for research. Findings...

BACKGROUND Low retention of humanitarian workers poses constraints on humanitarian organisations' capacity to respond effectively to disasters. Research has focused on reasons for humanitarian workers leaving the sector, but little is known about the factors that can elucidate long-term commitment. OBJECTIVE To understand what motivates and supports experienced humanitarian health workers to ...

The importance of specialist intervention in the form of humanitarian aid from governments, NGOs and other aid agencies during a humanitarian emergency cannot be over-emphasised. Humanitarian aid is the assistance provided in response to a humanitarian crisis. Humanitarian aid may be logistical, financial or material and its central aim is to alleviate human suffering and save lives. This paper...

With the growth in length and breadth of extended supply chains, more companies are employing risk management techniques and resilience planning to deal with burgeoning and costly supply chain disruptions. As companies can learn from humanitarian groups, so can humanitarian groups learn from industry how to respond, recover, and prepare for these disruptive events. This paper looks at industry ...

In December 2011, OCHA hosted a humanitarian policy and research conference on the theme of 'Risk, Adaptation and Innovation in Humanitarian Action'. The conference aimed to identify priority policy research areas for the humanitarian community, and to strengthen partnerships with and among policy and research organisations. Over 50 attendees came from a global network of research institutes, u...