A / A / A

publications

War and Humanitarianism

How can aid workers help war victims without falling prey to, or becoming complicit with, their persecutors?

Humanitarian organisations have an ambiguous relationship with the violence of war. Seeking to relieve its severity, they contribute to its continuation to varying degrees while subjecting themselves to becoming targets. This collection of studies explores the way aid workers attempt to “humanise” war and face the risk of becoming victims of or complicit in the war.

book cover of From Ethiopia to Chechnya MSF-Crash Book

From Ethiopia to Chechnya

04/01/2004 François Jean

For nearly two decades, François Jean practiced humanitarian action based on a deep, pragmatic desire to understand, constant self-questioning, and broad intellectual curiosity. It will be clear to anyone reading his collected works, From Ethiopia to Chechnya: Reflections on Humanitarian Action, 1988-1999, that his writings resonate with dilemmas we face today.

Read more
Couverture du livre A l’ombre des guerres justes MSF-Crash Book

In the Shadow of Just Wars

09/01/2003 Fabrice Weissman

During the planning stages of military intervention in Iraq, humanitarian organizations were offered U.S. government funds to join the Coalition and operate uneder the umbrella of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Read more
Couverture du livre Une guerre contre les civils MSF-Crash Book

Civilians Under Fire

10/01/2001 Marc Le Pape Pierre Salignon

In the face of violence, how does a medical relief organization react and respond? This book is an account of one experience; it describes and analyzes the characteristics of one intervention: that of Médecins Sans Frontières in Congo Brazzaville in 1998-2000. 

Read more
Un enfant fait la queue pour avoir de l'eau Ian Berry Analysis

Terror and Impunity in Rwanda

08/01/2000 Rony Brauman Stephen Smith

Not having seen the genocidal drift of Hutu Power in 1994 coming, the international community grants Paul Kagame's RPF the impunity of victims. Yet such power also lends itself to criminal acts. The authors express their indignance that NGOs and international organisations - invoking the duty of remembrance - join in the endless evocation of the past that masks the political phenomena at the root of the current violence.

Read more
Couverture du livre Populations en danger 1995 MSF-Crash Book

Populations in danger 1995

11/01/1995 François Jean

« Never again »: in the wake of the second World War, the terror caused by the Holocaust led the community of states to condemn genocide as a crime and to create a new international organization, the United Nations. And yet, half a century later, the international community did nothing to prevent the first undeniable genocide since that of the Jews: it let the massacre of the Rwandan Tutsis and merely sent humanitarian aid, even though it was nearly over.  

Read more
Réfugiés en Tanzanie - novembre 2016 Louise Annaud Analysis

Humanitarian aid

05/01/1994 Rony Brauman

For the publication of the Dictionnaire d'Ethique et de philosophie morale, the former president of Médecins Sans Frontières, Rony Brauman, offers a definition of humanitarian aid. 

Read more
Un travailleur humanitaire MSF dans une salle Colin Delfosse Book

Life, Death and Aid

11/01/1993 François Jean

With the end of the Cold War came the hope of a "New World Order". yet the tragedies of war and famine continue to dominate our headlines. Humanitarian law is still violated every day. Emergency aid from the United Nations and donor governments remains inadequate and military interventions often fail to restore durable peace.

Read more