Governing sexual behaviour through humanitarian codes of conduct

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Humanitarian Studies
• Organizational Governance

Background:

• Growing consensus since 2001 identifies sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) by humanitarian workers as a significant governance challenge.
• Codes of conduct are widely promoted as a primary mechanism to regulate humanitarian worker behavior and prevent PSEA.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically investigate the codes of conduct for preventing sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) adopted by humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
• To analyze how these PSEA codes govern the sexual behavior of humanitarian workers.
• To examine the features of organization-specific PSEA codes and their online presence.

Main Methods:

• Systematic study analyzing references to codes of conduct on the websites of 100 humanitarian NGOs.
• Application of Foucault's analytics of governance and speech act theory.
• Analysis of organization-specific PSEA codes identified through the survey.

Main Results:

• Identified the prevalence and characteristics of PSEA codes of conduct across humanitarian NGOs.
• Examined the language and structure used in PSEA codes to govern humanitarian worker behavior.
• Highlighted variations in the implementation and visibility of PSEA policies among NGOs.

Conclusions:

• PSEA codes of conduct are a key governance tool in the humanitarian sector.
• Further analysis is needed to understand the effectiveness of these codes in actual practice.
• The study provides insights into how humanitarian organizations frame and manage PSEA through their official policies.