The Problems of Moral Hazard: Humanitarian Aid during Violent Conflict

In: Refugee survey quarterly: reports, documentation, literature survey, Band 23, Heft 4, S. 230-235

Abstract

Humanitarian aid carries with it the condition of being moral hazardous -- as do all actions of all humans. For example, aid can maintain the status quo, which can be highly detrimental to repressed groups. Humanitarian aid can help prop up a war economy & perhaps most commonly, aid allows states to pass off their responsibilities of caring for their own citizens to the aid organizations. Aid organizations & aid workers must be aware of, & must accept, the moral ambiguity & the far-reaching consequences, of their actions. However, they must not be paralyzed by their awareness of moral complexities since all human action contains a moral element & no course of action -- or inaction -- is morally neutral. 12 References. D. Knaff