Blockchain Ethics in Humanitarian Supply Chain Management

Humanitarian organisations are embracing technology to improve the efficiency of their operations. However, as digital tools are increasingly used, questions have arisen about how beneficiary data is collected, stored, and transferred, and how these practices can be designed to ensure privacy, security, and protection from digital harm. Blockchain technology is argued to solve this issue due to its unique features of immutability and provenance. Its implementation in the humanitarian sector, however, raises ethical concerns for which research has a void. The purpose of this paper is to identify the ethical implications of blockchain technology in humanitarian supply chains. A framework is then provided to showcase how these ethical issues conflict the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. The predominant ethical implications of blockchain in humanitarian supply chains are privacy, security, digital divide, data governance, inclusion and equity, regulatory and legal issues, and resource allocation. Blockchain applications promises limitless opportunities, however, balancing the confidentiality needs of beneficiaries like refugees, and the inherent transparency of the blockchain, can be challenging. There is a need to take careful attention in blockchain implementation to avoid ethical risks, as missing the mark could harm the reputation of humanitarian organisations.