ISSUE 38: SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2005

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Experts brainstorm ethical dilemmas facing NGOs

Results of three years of research by UNU Peace and Governance Programme and the City University of Hong Kong were laid out during a workshop and brainstorming session on Ethics in Action:The Ethical Challenges of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Non-Governmental Organisations held at UN headquarters, New York , August 19.

The project will culminate later this year with the publication of a book examining the work of a number of NGOs and the problems and dilemmas they face in the field. 

 In the meantime, the New York workshop was convened to engage practitioners based at UN headquarters in a discussion about ideas for the final chapter of this book – relevant, practical and workable policy recommendations. NGO representatives and some academics were invited to compare the dilemmas of the field, as outlined in the book, to those encountered at headquarters and suggest how they should be overcome.

Participants included:

• John Ambler, senior vice-president of programs, Oxfam America ;
• Robert Arsenault, president, International League for Human Rights;
• Widney Brown, deputy director of programmes, Human Rights Watch;
• Allison Cohen, international human rights officer;
• Jacob Blaustein, Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
• Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, research fellow, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University ;
• Neil Hicks, director, Human Rights First;
• John L. Hirsch, international programmes, International Peace Academy ;
• Sharon Hom, executive director, Human Rights China;
• Shula Koenig, founding president, People’s Movement for Human Rights Education;
• William Pace, executive director, World Federalist Movement;
• Kevin Sullivan, director of advocacy, Habitat for Humanity;
• David Cingranelli, professor of political science, Binghamton University .

 

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