BHS412 - Module 5 Case - Disaster Relief - Ethical Issues Related to Relief Operations - Essay Example

Ethical Issues Related to Relief Operations Review the of Conduct for NGOs. Do you believe, based on reported accounts of relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina and the recent hurricanes in Florida that the NGOs acted in accordance with the Code of Conduct? Briefly discuss and identify a specific section/code from the Code of Conduct that may be very difficult for an NGO to meet. The fourth code of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief, wherein non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should “endeavour not to act as instruments of government foreign policy” may be difficult to meet, resulting to their unintentional failure to act accordingly to the Code of Conduct in response to Hurricane Katrina and the recent hurricanes.

This is due to the fact that there is confusion whether NGOs really do act independently from governments, which is not the case, for NGOs need assistance from government (National Response Framework, 2008). It is well-noted how the US government refused help in several instances (Shah, 2005), thus the NGO’s failure to fully act their Code of Conduct may be blamed to the government’s mismanagement in handling the aftermaths of the hurricane. Do you believe that gender issues, especially the needs of women are adequately addressed in disaster relief plans?

Identify a specific gender issues that you believe should always be considered in the aftermath of a disaster In most disaster relief plans, gender issues are adequately addressed in disaster relief plans. An example of which is the Pan American Health Organization’s consideration of women as vulnerable population in natural disasters stated in its Fact Sheet. The most important gender issue that should always be put into consideration in natural disaster aftermaths is the role of women in disaster response.

The Fact Sheet revealed the active participation of women in disaster response in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico City, which might serve as role models for American women to take an active role. There must be no discrimination of women in involving them in disaster planning and management. Briefly discuss the ethical issues related to the role of major corporations and their corporate social responsibility for participating in disaster relief efforts, as well as the domestic and international disaster relief communities.

Corporations as private sectors play a major role in disaster relief efforts, according to The National Response Framework (2008), some of which is to provide response resources in response to government initiatives. Non-compliance of which, either by their initiative or by government’s refusal to utilize their help, will violate the principle of beneficence, that the damage the disaster might cause could be reduced if they acted accordingly to their roles as private sectors. This is manifested by the refusal of the New Orleans Mayor to use the idle school buses in assisting evacuation, leading to additional deaths of the city inhabitants.

The ethical issues are not directly caused by the corporations and relief communities but as a result of the government’s poor crisis management in refusing to accept these beneficial offers. References Shah, A. (2005). Hurricane Katrina. Global Issues. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/564/hurricane-katrina. National Response Framework (2008). U.S. Department of Homeland Security. NRF Resource Center. Retrieved from http://www.fema.gov/NRF. Pan American Health Organization (n.d.).

Gender and natural disasters. Fact sheet: women, health & development program. Retrieved from http://www.paho.org/genderandhealth/. The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gdrc.org/ngo/codesofconduct/ifrc-codeconduct.html.