Ethics and Unintended Harms of Humanitarian Innovation: Drones and Biometrics

Mutoni Uwase N.

Faculty of Business and Management Kampala International University Uganda

                                                                                         ABSTRACT
Humanitarian innovation has transformed the delivery of humanitarian assistance by introducing emerging technologies such as drones and biometric systems to improve operational efficiency, logistics, beneficiary identification, and emergency response. Despite their considerable potential, these technologies also create significant ethical challenges and unintended harms that may undermine the humanitarian principles they seek to advance. This paper examines the ethical implications of humanitarian innovation through a comparative analysis of drones and biometrics, focusing on their capabilities, benefits, governance frameworks, and associated risks. It reviews the operational applications of drones in disaster assessment, supply delivery, surveillance, and infrastructure monitoring, alongside the growing use of biometric technologies for identity verification, cash assistance, refugee registration, and family reunification. The study highlights the unintended harms associated with these technologies, including privacy violations, surveillance overreach, data misuse, discrimination, misidentification, unequal access to humanitarian assistance, safety risks, and power asymmetries between humanitarian organizations and affected communities. It further examines the legal, ethical, and governance frameworks that regulate their deployment, emphasizing the importance of international humanitarian law, human rights principles, institutional safeguards, informed consent, transparency, accountability, and community participation. The paper argues that while drones and biometrics can substantially improve humanitarian effectiveness, their deployment must be accompanied by comprehensive ethical risk assessments, privacypreserving system design, continuous post-deployment monitoring, and robust governance mechanisms. Ultimately, responsible humanitarian innovation requires balancing technological advancement with the protection of human dignity, individual rights, and humanitarian principles to ensure that innovation contributes to humanitarian objectives without creating additional vulnerabilities for affected populations.

Keywords: Humanitarian innovation, Drones, Biometrics, Ethical governance and Unintended harms.

CITE AS: Mutoni Uwase N. (2026). Ethics and Unintended Harms of Humanitarian Innovation: Drones and Biometrics. IDOSR JOURNAL OF ARTS AND MANAGEMENT 11(2):82-89. https:/doi.org/10.59298/IDOSRJAM/2026/112.8289