October 8, 2025

Join Us on Global Ethics Day

Global Ethics Day, taking place this year on October 15, is happening against the backdrop of a turbulent geopolitical environment. With wars and international crises affecting millions, climate change intensifying, and the need for humanitarian aid escalating, we're calling on individuals and organizations to activate their communities and re-envision the role of ethics to build a more peaceful and just future. See below for ways to participate in Global Ethics Day 2025.

Register for Our Keynote Event: Re-envisioning Humanitarianism for a Changing World 

Today, over 305 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection due to a myriad of crises. Yet traditional providers of foreign aid, such as the U.S. and UK, have slashed their commitments, choosing to prioritize hard power investments. In the Global Ethics Day 2025 keynote event, an expert panel will explore questions around power, accountability, and the need for greater inclusivity in the design, funding, and delivery of humanitarian aid, both today and into the future. 

Call For Submissions | Climate Action Challenge Cases

This Global Ethics Day, Carnegie Council is calling on individuals and institutions to submit examples of how applied ethics strategies could be used to address climate action implementation challenges in cities. Select submissions will be featured on the Carnegie Council website.

A Conversation with Carnegie Ethics Fellow Molly Schaeffer

As executive director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Asylum Seeker Operations, Molly Schaeffer, a member of the second Carnegie Ethics Fellows cohort, discusses humanitarianism from her personal perspective. Facing an influx of tens of thousands of migrants with no connections to New York, Schaeffer and her team stayed "grounded" in their values as they managed a “global crisis on a local scale.”

Resources on Humanitarianism from Our Archives

Morgenthau Lecture: The Future of Humanitarianism

In this 2004 talk from our Morgenthau Lectures series, Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), argues that the globalization of compassion and human rights is a sign of substantial moral progress that can count some successes, most notably in Kosovo and East Timor. 

The Moral Basis of Humanitarian Intervention

In this 2002 article from our Ethics & International Affairs journal, Professor Terry Nardin writes with a goal to “relocate discussion of humanitarian intervention, moving it out of the familiar discourse of sovereignty and self-defense and into the discourse of rectifying wrongs and protecting the innocent.”

Two Cheers for Humanitarianism

In this 2012 book review from the Ethics & International Affairs journal, Tom Farer, former dean of the University of Denver’s Korbel School, discusses several books that have tackled the “bristly questions” at the heart of humanitarianism. He also provides historical context, telling the story of Henry Dunant and the beginnings of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Which humanitarian principle do you think is the toughest to uphold?

1) Independence

2) Impartiality

3) Neutrality

In Case You Missed It

Post-Liberal American Power

In the first event in our Values & Interests series, an expert panel examines the question: Has Trump 2.0 ushered in an era of post-liberal American power?

When Philosophy Meets Power: How Metaethics Shapes International Influence 

ICR Research's Stuart MacDonald explores how metaethics—the study of what makes moral claims valid—might help us understand the difficulties of values-based diplomacy.