Reconstructing Lives: Victims of war in the Middle East and Médecins Sans Frontières was published in January 2022 by Manchester University Press. The book is the result of extensive fieldwork, in collaboration with the Crash. It is fully available on our website.

Over the last few years, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Syria have been places where situations of extreme violence took place. As witnesses and investigators of such, the authors of this book shed light on three key-moments that marked these tragic episodes:  the investigation, the intervention of emergency relief teams and the implementation of justice procedures leading to judgement.

In the eyes of Rony Brauman of Médecins sans Frontières, wars are always triggered in the name of morality. Today’s “humanitarian” interventions are little more than new moral crusades – and their justifications are based on lies. 

Throughout the 1990s, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was forced to face the challenges posed by the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis and a succession of major outbreaks of political violence in Rwanda and its neighbouring countries.

When MSF nurse Chantal Kaghoma regained her freedom in August 2014 after being held hostage for thirteen months by rebel group ADF in the DRC, she said, “While I was in prison with all the other hostages, I had lost all faith in everyone"

From international NGOs to UN agencies, from donors to observers of humanitarianism, opinion is unanimous: in a context of the alleged ‘clash of civilisations’, our ‘humanitarian space’ is shrinking.

Humanitarian medicine is made up of a wide range of practices with few obvious connections between them. Battlefield medicine and surgery, rural dispensaries in remote areas, campaigns to raise awareness about health problems in poor countries, emergency teams in disaster situations, vaccination campaigns, health education, help for marginalised groups in affluent countries and public health advice are just some examples of actions that fall within the scope of “humanitarian medicine” when they are carried out by organisations and in circumstances that can be classified as “humanitarian”.

Medical Innovations in Humanitarian Situations explores how the particular style of humanitarian action practiced by MSF has stayed in line with the standards in scientifically advanced countries while also leading to significant improvements in the medical care delivered to people in crisis. 

Tout a commencé par une évidence : il allait devenir médecin. Guérir les autres. Etre utile. Pour y arriver, la route est passée par un engagement politique intense, des emplois de garde-malade et d'infirmier de nuit. Puis, tout jeune médecin, Rony Brauman s'est retrouvé seul responsable d'un hôpital de brousse.

Twenty years after the charity concerts for the Sahel Nigerien politicians, institutional donors, aid agencies and humanitarian organisations clashed on the nature and substance of the crisis affecting Niger in 2005. Identifying the causes of, and adequate responses to, the situation also gave rise to profound disagreements. Having set up their most ambitious emergency nutrition programme to date, Médecins Sans Frontières found itself at the forefront of these controversies.

Intervenir dans un camp de réfugiés, dans une situation de guerre, faire face à une épidémie... En quoi consiste concrètement l'action humanitaire ? Rony Brauman raconte sa propre expérience.

Figure emblématique de l'action humanitaire, Rony Brauman fut lontemps président de MSF. En plus de ses innombrables mission sur le terrain, aux quatre coins du monde, il s'est fait connaître par la réflexion critique qu'il a élaborée, au fil des ans, sur l'humanitaire lui-même et ses limites.