Agreement over aid agencies' use of 'sensational' images
Dozens of Irish aid agencies today struck a deal banning them from using sensational images to raise awareness of their causes.
The protocol also demands that the development organisations seek the permission of the people they are portraying before using it on promotional material.
Some 36 bodies agreed to avoid stereotypes and to properly represent the full complexities of the situations they were working to highlight.
The new code of conduct was rubber stamped at the 14th Annual General Meeting of Irish Development NGOs (non-governmental organisations).
Signatories to the code are all members of Dchas – an umbrella group of Irish aid agencies.
“This Code will be binding for all Dchas members and our members commit to actively seek feed-back from the general public about their communications,” said Dchas chairwoman Helen Keogh.
The umbrella body also revealed they are to develop a new code on governance for development NGOs, with the help of the Corporate Governance Association of Ireland.
