Preventing Corruption in International Humanitarian Assistance

Humanitarian assistance such as food, water, sanitation products, medicine, grants, etc.., should be distributed among the affected population, after the gathering process by the damaged State, and in some cases, with the support of other governments, international and non-governmental organizations. At this stage, created opportunities and numerous resources will provide the ground for corruption of individuals and groups and slow down the process of relief and reconstruction. Consequently, preventive measures by governments to fight corruption are important before and after disasters. Despite the importance of this issue, the international community has so far only tried to address this fundamental problem on a case by case basis and it suffers from the lack of an independent body to fight corruption, especially in times of relief. For this reason, in this article, while describing the actions of governments, governmental and non-governmental organizations, in particular, Transparency International to fight corruption, international treaties and conventions and their solutions to prevent and combat corruption during natural disasters will be examined.