Ethical behavior is the driving force behind humanitarian aid organizations. Ethics probably is the political topic most closely related to humanitarian organizations. The very nature of such organizations is “the application of appropriate moral norms,” as Amstutuz writes. Very simply, aid organizations seek to provide what they perceive as basic human needs: food, shelter and medicine. The beauty of international aid organizations is that they are able to operate independently of state interests and bias’. This allows the Red Cross and other such groups to reach places that other countries may not be directly welcome. It also allows them to serve people with a lot more impartiality.
However, the premise of international humanitarian aid organizations begs important questions. Are private organizations, as collaborations of individual effort, better suited to meet the needs of the people than a politically-charged government department? Democratic governments are seen as agents of the people’s will, but does that include providing such things as food and shelter? There are countries all over the world where there is a moral imperative to meet needs and protect human rights. The questions is, where to draw the line. Do humans need to take more individual responsibility in helping with the rights/needs of others, or should the government continue to assume social responsibility? Where is the line between individual(private) and political(public) moral imperatives to be drawn?
It will be interesting to see what Amstutz’s view toward politcs/aid is when we read Chapter 2-2.
