Humanitarian Principles

Focus

Sexual abuse perpetrated by humanitarian workers: from moral relativism to competitive victimhood

Drawing on the example of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Françoise Duroch and Emmanuel Noyer review the measures taken by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) to combat sexual violence. The authors show...

Emmanuel Noyer - Françoise Duroch

Transitions

The professionalisation of humanitarian action: a work still in progress

For a long time, the humanitarian sector has claimed its complete “professionalisation”. However, a recent study conducted by Bioforce puts this plaudit into perspective. Rory Downham, who led it, reviews...

Rory Downham

Opinion

Humanitarian work is coming up against a barrier: how can analysis help devise corrective strategies?

Security incidents and the growing difficulties that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are facing to gain acceptance are problems that are both also rooted in the very structure of the international humanitarian...

Pierre Micheletti

Ethics

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

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...

Gwenaëlle Luc-Menichelli

Focus

The Summit of greater uncertainty

Fear and apprehension, just as the expectations that the World Humanitarian Summit inspires are not limited to the French speaking world, let’s say to these “French doctor” NGOs, with a...

Gareth Price-Jones

Focus

Standards and finances: analysis of the report of Ban Ki-moon

The financing for implementing humanitarian action, and the regulatory standards that govern it, no doubt represent the two stumbling blocks on which the participants in the Istanbul Summit will focus...

Anne Héry - Antoine Peigney

Opinion

The United Against Inhumanity initiative

We are inaugurating a new “Tribune” section that will allow for the expression of various initiatives in the humanitarian sector, and original, iconoclastic and even polemical points of view. And it’s...

Khaled Mansour - Antonio Donini - Jean-Baptiste Richardier

Opinion

“What have we lost along the way?” – Disenchantments of NGO

This text by Pierre Brunet found its way into the humanitarian microcosm after its publication on the website Défis humanitaires. It is certainly no coincidence that it has generated so...

Pierre Brunet

Reportage

Collectif item is an eye-opener

Its rallying slogan, “So as not to stay with our eyes shut”, is a leitmotiv that resonates for humanitarian workers, development professionals and social workers and which justifies our turning...

Collectif ITEM

Focus

How the arrival of companies re-examines the notions of legitimacy and accountability: the example of cash transfer programmes

Isabelle Schlaepfer invites us to a salutary perspective in the debate on the impact of the arrival of companies in the humanitarian field. Drawing on the recurring question of the...

Isabelle Schlaepfer

Focus

The International Committee of the Red Cross and partnerships with the private sector: evolution and ethical considerations

Jessica Fleurinor and Caroline Putnam Cramer invite us to an extension of the first part of our Focus theme. The International Committee of the Red Cross effectively did not have...

Caroline Putman Cramer  - Jessica Fleurinor 

Forum

“It’s a process for de-politicizing NGOs, a shameful capitulation…”

Published on April 8, 2018 Does the pragmatism of some hide an alignment with neo-liberal doctrine and the “healthy and critical distance from the private for-profit sector” of others guarantee...

Bertrand Bréqueville