Rony Brauman has just published “Guerres humanitaires ? Mensonges et intox” (which could be loosely translated as "Humanitarian Wars? Lies and Brainwashing"). This book, a collection of interviews co-authored with Régis Meyran, explores a number of recent armed interventions that have all shared the goal of saving lives. Reviewing conflicts in Somalia, Libya, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, Brauman discusses the reasons advanced for justifying these wars and the accompanying lies. He explains his motivations in an interview with the Médiapart news site. 

The issue of humanitarian law plays a central role in his critique. While he does not reject the concept as a whole, Brauman notes that humanitarian law is primarily the product of a war mentality. He contends that from a certain perspective, it must be considered as a license to kill – “necro-ethics”, a term he borrows from Grégoire Chamayou, author of “A Theory of the Drone”.  

Because humanitarian law eclipses human realities, NGOs would be well advised to show it less support, says Brauman. Countering a trend that has not spared MSF, i.e. when the NGO notes that “even war has rules”, he urges a more restrictive application of humanitarian law. It is this section of the book that is the focus of the following interview.