Médecins Sans Frontières

MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (MSF) or “Doctors without Borders” is an international humanitarian organization that is dedicated to providing emergency medical aid anywhere it is required in the world, irrespective of color, creed, or any other issue. MSF is also dedicated to raising awareness of the need for medical aid and assistance. It is the world's largest independent provider of health services and is currently active in 68 countries around the world.

In addition to providing healthcare, MSF publishes research and policy advocacy in support of its origins in 1971, when a group of doctors decided to take action to counteract what they perceived to be injustice in terms of attaching political considerations to humanitarian interventions. Arguing that humanitarianism should come first independent of any political considerations, MSF members, who draw upon 2,000 or more doctors internationally as well as other professionals, work in every country of the world in which they perceive there to be a need. Unfortunately interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq have been ended after persistent use of violence against MSF workers.

One of the more important issues facing international humanitarian organizations at the beginning of the 21st century is the difficulty inherent in avoiding either being co-opted into the efforts of a partisan (occupying) force or being viewed as part of that effort irrespective of ideological neutrality. The lack of international support for the American-led invasion and occupation of Iraq and the huge amount of so-called collateral damage caused (that is, the death and injury of civilians) have stimulated the belief that humanitarian intervention is part of the invasion and, hence, a suitable target for those prepared to use violence to end the occupation.

MSF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 “in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents.” In the Nobel lecture given in response to this prize, MSF's James Orbinski summarized the philosophy of the organization: “Our action is to help people in situations of crisis. And ours is not a contented action. Bringing medical aid to people in distress is an attempt to defend them against what is aggressive to them as human beings. Humanitarian action is more than simple generosity, simple charity. It aims to build spaces of normalcy in the midst of what is abnormal. More than offering material assistance, we aim to enable individuals to regain their rights and dignity as human beings. As an independent volunteer association, we are committed to bringing direct medical aid to people in need. But we act not in a vacuum, and we speak not into the wind, but with a clear intent to assist, to provoke change, or to reveal injustice. Our action and our voice is an act of indignation, a refusal to accept an active or passive assault on the other.”

MSF does not, therefore, act purely as a neutral provider of emergency assistance but acts also as a facilitator in helping people to restore peaceful and normal conditions in their lives. Since the causes of conflict and warfare are so often related to governments or groups who would form governments, it is inevitable that its advocacy will clash with some governmental versions of events. MSF believed that it was obliged to withdraw from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), for example, because despite the evidence of clear need for millions of people, it found the [Page 697]government's interference and obstructionism in its work necessitated the withdrawal.

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