26 October 2006
Ethics In Action: Can International NGOs Do Better in the Field of Human Rights?
The United Nations University (UNU) Office at the UN in New York (ONY) presents a book launch for Ethics in Action: The Ethical Challenges of International Human Rights Nongovernmental Organizations. The event will be held on 26 October 2006 from 3 to 5:30pm, in the Liaison Office of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union with the United Nations, 222 East 41st Street, 20th Floor in New York. Ethics in Action, co-edited by Daniel A. Bell and Jean-Marc Coicaud and co-published by Cambridge University Press and UNU Press, “brings about a spirited and fruitful dialogue among human rights theorists and practitioners on the ground” (Stephen Macredo, Princeton University). It discusses the ethical challenges that international human rights nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) encounter in the field and in diplomatic and political settings, as they attempt to do good and to refine thinking on the relative merits and demerits of ways of dealing with those challenges.
The purpose of this book launch is to further discuss the ethical challenges facing INGOs, and the policy implications for human rights work. How should powerful Northern INGOs interact with recipients of their aid in the global South? Should INGOs work with or against repressive governmental regimes? What should be the moral priorities of INGOs? All of these topics will be discussed, with an end towards improving human rights work in the field.
