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.
Zones to Protect
03/01/2009Humanitarian law was designed as a normative framework, not as an indictment. With this in mind, Rony Brauman tries to define what constitutes a human shield.
Humanitarian dilemmas in Darfur
07/01/2008With 13,000 humanitarian workers and a hundred relief agencies, Darfur hosts the largest humanitarian operation in the world. The aid apparatus started its full deployment in mid-2004 in a context of acutely high mortality among internally displaced persons (IDPs) gathered in camps and civilians remaining in rural areas.
The Darfur crisis: Humanitarian Aid in the Balance
04/04/2007Fabrice Weissman is interviewed by Joanne Myers, Carnegie Council, about MSF work in Darfur. He talks about MSF humanitarian medical work, its issues and difficulties.
An appeal for Darfur, Killings and Demagogy
03/23/2007Jean-Hervé Bradol and Fabrice Weissman respond to Collectif Urgence Darfour's call for armed intervention in Darfur to "stop the massacres," and to promises along these lines by candidates in France's presidential election.
The International reaction to the Darfur Crisis: An Humanitarian Point of View
02/22/2007Fabrice Weissman looks at the major stages of the Darfur conflict since 2003 from the perspective of a humanitarian medical organisation. He questions the predominant reading of this crisis, and cautions against the illusions of international armed intervention in the region.
Humanitarian action in situations of occupation
01/01/2007This Cahier du CRASH by Xavier Crombé combines a study of the experience and positions of MSF vis-à-vis occupation contexts since the 1980s, and the minutes of a talk organised by the 'Fondation MSF' in January 2006 on "Humanitarian action in situations of occupation".
Independance and security
12/05/2006MSF is an independent organisation that carefully protects its autonomy. In this article, Xavier Crombé draws the connection between this founding principle and the issue of security for humanitarian actors.
Darfur: Humanitarian Aid Held Hostage
11/03/2006Aid organisations have been held hostage to the showdown between the Sudanese government and the international community.
Child Soldiers in Africa: A singular Phenomenon?
01/01/2006The much publicized figure of the child soldier in Africa is placed in context in this historiographical survey: the author ties it to the general subject of children in war – which has affected America and Europe at different times – and reveals the necessity of developing a history of child status in Africa.