Paper details

Paper authors	Ilan Kelman
In panel on	Disaster Diplomacy for Humanitarianism
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Science diplomacy is infrequently examined for humanitarian activities, despite being an important component of disaster diplomacy. Many past examples and potential scenarios exist where scientists involved in humanitarian work end up experiencing difficulties, such as becoming targets for parties in conflict or running afoul of governmental or non-governmental authorities. A question then emerges regarding the duty of care which a scientist's government owes towards the scientist engaged in humanitarian activities, whether or not the scientist was working for their government or was actively involved in diplomatic work. Even when the governments involved were ostensibly unaware that science diplomacy was happening in humanitarian situations, it appears that the governmental duty of care should extend to preparing for possible scenarios in order to be ready to respond strategically when difficulties arise, rather than responding ad hoc only after a crisis has emerged. Taking such action will further support improved interaction amongst scientists and diplomats to support each other's work as part of each of their duty of care to their profession.

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