March 25, 2024
Congratulations to Ivana Vuco on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation that examined the challenges and opportunities for ethical decision-making by the international humanitarian system and associated aid organizations in global natural and human-made disasters. The defense was awarded summa cum laude. This research project focused on the humanitarian responses in three case studies: the 2011 Somalia famine, the 2015 conflict escalation amid deteriorating humanitarian indicators in Yemen, and the impact of the European migration curbing practices and policies in conflict-ridden Libya starting in 2016. The research concluded that context, and more importantly, context analysis influenced the decision-making in all cases. While the humanitarian ethical framework was sufficiently encapsulated in the so-called core humanitarian principles of humanitarian imperative, impartiality, neutrality, and independence, the system of aid organizations deployed in disasters in all cases lacked a coherent, systematic, and organized manner of debating and deciding on their relevance, application, and desired impact. Congratulations, Ivana!