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Publications

War and humanitarianism, medicine and public health, rights and justice... Discover CRASH publications sorted by themes.

The fact that CRASH publications are written from an aid practitioner's, rather than researcher's, perspective, does not exempt them from the demands of rigorous research methods. We try hard at this, with the help of (volunteer) research professionals. The publications are not the MSF party line, but rather tools for reflexion based on MSF's framework and experience. They have only one purpose: to help us better understand what we are doing. Criticisms, comments and suggestions are more than welcome - they are expected.

illustration la criminalisation de l'ennemi Analysis

Criminalising the enemy and its impact on humanitarian action

12/15/2010 Fabrice Weissman

Could a doctor working for a humanitarian organisation be sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States for having offered his “expert advice” to people linked to a “terrorist organisation”? That is what is feared by a number of civil rights’ organisations in the US since the Supreme Court declared on 21 June that the legislation known as the Material Support Statute was constitutional. 

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Opinion

Darfur: the International Criminal Court is wrong

09/10/2010 Rony Brauman

Rony Brauman criticises the International Criminal Court's indictment of the Sudanese president for genocide. If the prosecutor's argument is followed, humanitarian organisations working in the displaced people's camps should be charged with complicity in genocide.

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A tank moves towards the frontlines as people are fleeing Dominic Nahr Analysis

"Not in our name": Why Medecins sans frontières does not support the "responsability to protect"

08/01/2010 Fabrice Weissman

Argued in the 1990s in the name of the "right or duty to intervene", the application of military might to rescue populations in danger is now debated with reference to the "Responsibility to Protect" paradigm (or "R2P" for those in the know). In this article Fabrice Weissman explains why MSF refuses to adhere to this doctrine of ‘just war', whose legalisation would effectively be legalising a new form of imperialism.

 

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Haïti dévastée par l'ouragan Matthew Andrew McConnell/Panos Pictures Op-ed

Haiti Earthquake: What Priorities?

01/20/2010 Rony Brauman

The earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and neighboring areas has led to a worldwide surge of solidarity which we must fully appreciate because no country could face such a disaster on this scale alone.

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distribution de médicaments Daro Sulakauri Opinion

No credit for Drs Knock

12/01/2009 Rony Brauman

Pharmaceutical companies produce drugs and are increasing involved in the clinical trials of these products. This conflict of interest is incompatible with the expectations  of Public Health. Rony Brauman suggests that the industry no longer be responsible for therapeutic trials.

 

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Un hôpital Médecins Sans Frontières au Soudan Jacob Kuehn Analysis

Humanitarian Aid and the International Criminal Court. Grounds for Divorce

10/01/2009 Fabrice Weissman

This essay points out the fragility of the arguments most often used by humanitarian organizations to justify their support for an international criminal court. Questioning NGOs' infatuation with punitive justice, Fabrice Weissman argues that humanitarian organizations should advocate for politics of aid and mediation rather than for a global moral order based on judicial punishment and just war.

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