FRANCAISMédecins Sans Frontières - Comments
5) Public Relations
-The movement’s refusal to remain silent in front of massacres, particularly during the 1994 Rwandese genocide, drove it to take positions and to rethink the meaning of its neutrality. Although MSF is first and foremost a medical NGO, testifying is one of the main components of its activities. Unlike the ICRC, MSF provides material assistance but no legal protection, and so can act more openly. Rony Brauman, MSF-France president between 1982 and 1994, explained this in a book edited by Marie-José Domestici-Met. In his opinion, the process of informing against abuses is rooted in the testimonies the volunteers collect in the field. MSF is not an organisation defending human rights. The denunciation of “massive and repeated violations” of humanitarian principles only concerns countries where the organisation is, and testifying must not harm the victims.
