Dr Ayesha Ahmad is a lecturer in Medical Ethics and Law at St George's University of London, and Honorary Lecturer at the Institute for Global Health, University College London. She specialises in gender-based violence and mental health in conflict and humanitarian crises.
James Smith is a Research Fellow with the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). He has worked as a researcher with Médecins Sans Frontières's Research Unit on Humanitarian Stakes and Practices (UREPH), and as a clinician with the U.K. National Health Service.

Foreword: Humanitarian Action and Ethics - Hugo Slim
Foreword: On the Front Lines of Humanitarian Medical Ethics - Vickie Hawkins and Paul McMaster
Introduction: Narrating Humanitarian Action and Ethics - Ayesha Ahmad
1. Difficult Decision-making, Compromise, and Moral Distress in Medical Humanitarian Response - James Smith
2. Moral Entanglement and the Ethics of Closing Humanitarian Projects - Matthew Hunt and Jingru Miao
3. The Outsider's Role: Ethical Reflections from the Study of International-National Staff Relations in Development and Humanitarian Organisations - Maëlle Noé
4. The Moral Motivation of Humanitarian Actors - Katarína Komenská
5. Makeshift Humanitarians: Informal Humanitarian Aid Across European Close(d) Borders - Elisa Sandri and Fosco Bugoni
6. Amateur Humanitarianism, Social Solidarity and 'Volunteer Tourism' in the EU Refugee 'Crisis' - Jane Freedman

7. La Nouvelle France: Institutionalised Abuse, 'Exception' and Spectacle in the Exiled/Volunteer Relationship at the Franco-British Border - Celeste Cantor-Stephens
8. Ethical Challenges Among Humanitarian Organisations: Insights from the Response to the Syrian Conflict* - Kory L Funk, Diana Rayes, Leonard S Rubenstein, Nermin R Diab, Namrita S Singh, Matthew DeCamp, Wasim Maziak, Lara S Ho and W Courtland Robinson
9. Home and Away: Ethical Issues in Humanitarian Aid to Syrians in Israel - Schlomit Zuckerman, Morshid Farhat and Salman Zarka
10. The Emergence of Humanitarian Failure: The Case of Haiti - Jan Wörlein
11. Ethical Encounters as a Humanitarian Psychiatrist - Peter Hughes
12. One for All, or All for One: The Ethical Implications of Individual Human Rights-based and Public Good-based Frameworks in Emergency Mental Health - Liyam Eloul and Claire F O'Reilly
13. Ethics of Cultural Concepts and Conflicts Surrounding Disclosure of Gender-based Violence in Humanitarian Settings - Ayesha Ahmad
14. The Invisible Man: The Shrouding of Ethical Issues Related to Sexual Violence Against Men in the Humanitarian Response in the Democratic Republic of Congo - Vanessa Okito Wedi
15. Humanitarian Ethics in Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders: Discussing Dilemmas and Mitigating Moral Distress - Rachel Kiddell-Monroe, Carol Devine, John Pringle, Sidney Wong and Philippe Calain
16. Stop Missing the Point: Managing Humanitarian Action Well - Caroline Clarinval
17. An Ethic of Refusal: The Political Economy of Humanitarianism Under Neoliberal Globalisation - John Pringle and Toby Leon Moorsom
Afterword: The Ethics of Compiling a Book on Humanitarian Ethics - James Smith
*The chapter 'Ethical Challenges Among Humanitarian Organisations: Insights from the Response to the Syrian Conflict' is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). You can view the downloadable PDF here.

From natural disaster areas to conflict zones, humanitarian workers today find themselves operating in diverse and difficult environments. While humanitarian work has always presented unique ethical challenges, such efforts are now further complicated by the impact of globalization, the escalating refugee crisis, and mounting criticisms of established humanitarian practice.
Featuring contributions from humanitarian practitioners, health professionals, and social and political scientists, this book explores the question of ethics in modern humanitarian work, drawing on the lived experience of humanitarian workers themselves. Its essential case studies cover humanitarian work in countries ranging from Haiti and South Sudan to Syria and Iraq, and address issues such as gender based violence, migration, and the growing phenomenon of 'volunteer tourism'. Together, these contributions offer new perspectives on humanitarian ethics, as well as insight into how such ethical considerations might inform more effective approaches to humanitarian work.