If anyone has expertise in this topic, please contact me and I will forward your name to Merry Bullock. Neil Charness
Subject: Request to Division Presidents for name recommendations
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 09:50:57 -0500
Dear Division Presidents -
I am writing to you to ask your help in identifying experts who can assist in an initiative on ethical issues in research and intervention in complex humanitarian emergencies and disasters. We are at the very beginning stages of this work and want to move forward in a considered manner to allow us the opportunity to think through what the questions and issues are. As a first step, we are going to begin by gathering a small group of people who have been working in these areas and who have been considering the ethicl aspects of their work. Our goal is to identify the main ethical issues and challenges and then begin to plan for a larger conference that will offer ethical guidance in some form.
The letter below explains this initiative in more detail. We would like to ask you to send any recommendations to us by February 15, 2006.
With best regards,
Merry Bullock
***************************************************************** Dr. Merry Bullock -- Senior Director -- Office of International Affairs -- American Psychological Association -- 750 First Street NE -- Washington DC 20002-4242 USA -- +1-(202)-336-6024; fax: +1-(202)-218-3599; -- email: mbullock@apa.org -- http://www.apa.org/international -- *****************************************************************
January 2006
Dear Division President --
We are writing this letter to ask your assistance in an APA initiative addressing ethical issues in complex humanitarian emergencies and disasters. For many years, APA members have engaged in relief efforts in complex humanitarian emergencies associated with refugee crises, armed conflicts, and related issues. APA members have also been highly active in responding to natural and man-made disasters. Over the past year, APA has been asked to respond to several disasters that have affected hundreds of thousands of people, including the 2004 tsunami and hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in 2005. APA has developed immediate, medium and long-term responses to these complex humanitarian emergencies and disasters that have included a significant financial component, and through its Disaster Response Network and tsunami-related support, APA's response has also included longer-term education and capacity building efforts.
We have learned through these and other experiences that responding to complex humanitarian emergencies and disasters, even when based on the best of intentions, raises complex ethical issues. It has become apparent that ethical competency within these contexts must be attended to appropriately to avoid unintentionally bringing harm to those very people we want to help who are the victims and survivors of or are otherwise involved in these situations.
APA is now beginning a process of thinking through the ethical issues that arise in responding to complex humanitarian emergencies and disasters. Responding to such events, whether through research or intervention, is an emerging area of concern in the field of psychology, and there is an associated need to discuss and understand the ethical aspects of this growing area of our field. APA believes it is vitally important to initiate a process whereby we may discuss the issues and develop materials to help psychologists make ethically sound decisions when engaged in research and intervention in complex humanitarian emergency and disaster situations both domestically and internationally.
We are reaching out to you because we would like to initiate the process of addressing the ethical issues by inviting 20-25 experts who have been working in this area to help us begin to compile a list of the ethical concerns, questions, and issues that arise in complex humanitarian emergencies and disasters. We will also ask this group to help organize a larger conference on these issues.
We ask that you recommend individuals in your Division with unique experience and expertise in responding to complex humanitarian emergencies, or individuals who have given significant thought to the associated ethical issues. You may recommend individuals as part of the initial workgroup to define central issues or to be included in the subsequent conference (please specify which).
Please send names to the Office of International Affairs (mbullock@apa.org) by February 15, 2006.
With best regards
Merry Bullock
Senior Director, Office of International Affairs
CC: Sangeeta Panicker, Stephen Behnke, Margie Schroeder, Gerard Jacobs, Mike Wessells, Amgaa Oyungerel
----------------------------------------------------------------- Neil Charness, President -- Division 20 of American Psychological Association (Adult Development and Aging) --
Psychology Department |E-mail:charness@psy.fsu.edu -- Copeland Street |Phone (offices):850-644-6686; 850-644-8571 -- Florida State University |Fax: 850-644-7739 -- Tallahassee, FL. 32306-1270 |WWW: http://www.psy.fsu.edu/~charness/ --
