The ethics of humanitarian communication

Humanitarian communication encompasses all communication by and about international cooperation and humanitarian assistance. This communication focuses on human suffering and vulnerability in an attempt to probe public awareness, concern, and action towards global equality, justice and human rights. In the narrow sense, humanitarian communication refers to the representations created by the sectors’ actors and particularly international NGOs (INGOs). In the wide sense, humanitarian communication could be seen as the totality of the ‘international development and humanitarian’ discourse that is produced, shaped, and perpetuated by the unequal power relations in the sectors and the world at large. While a critical debate on the ethics of humanitarian communication has been going on since the 1980s, many of the concerns raised by earlier critics continue to shape current fundraising and advocacy campaigns. This masterclass by HUCOM, the Expertise Centre Humanitarian Communication, aims to support humanitarian practitioners in their quest to more ethical, sensitive and inclusive communication.

Central questions

1. How has the work of INGOs, particularly concerning people in vulnerable situations, been communicated over time?
2. What are the main storytelling genres used by INGOs, and which complexities and challenges do they have?
3. Why is ethical, inclusive, and equitable humanitarian communication so important, and how could it be achieved?

Learning goals – Participants will be able to understand:

1. the (neo)colonial history of international cooperation and humanitarian communication;
2. how colonial tropes and stereotypes have been, and are still, used in the communication of international cooperation and humanitarian aid organisations, and what the consequences are of such tropes and stereotypes;
3. the importance of ethical, inclusive, and equitable humanitarian communication, and how this could be achieved.

The Masterclass is particularly relevant for communications professionals at INGOs and UN agencies.

• Wouter Oomen, Lecturer in Media Studies and Humanitarian Communication, Utrecht University and Co-Director, Expertise Centre for Humanitarian Communication
• Emiel Martens, Assistant Professor in Postcolonial Media Studies, University of Amsterdam and Co-Director, Expertise Centre for Humanitarian Communication

Please register via this webform.

– Picture: Emiel Martens –