responsability to protect

The shared MSF / ICRC helicopter exchanging passengers in Gumuruk. In the rainy season helicopter is the only reliable way to move around Pibor County in South Sudan. Robin Meldrum/MSF Analysis

Oases of Humanity and the Realities of War. Uses and Misuses of International Humanitarian Law and Humanitarian Principles

06/28/2019 Rony Brauman

The rehabilitation of international humanitarian law (IHL) has become a priority for those who think that the horrors of contemporary wars are largely due to the blurring of the distinction between civilians and combatants and for those who think that campaigning for the respect of IHL could result in more civilised wars. Similarly, respect for humanitarian principles is still seen by many as the best tool available to protect the safety of aid workers. In this text, I argue that both assumptions are misled. The distinction between civilians and combatants, a cornerstone of IHL, has been blurred in practice since the late nineteenth century. In addition, humanitarian agencies claiming to be ‘principled’ have been victims of attacks as much as others. History and current practice tell us that neither IHL nor humanitarian principles provide safety or can guide our decisions. Accepting their symbolic value, rather than their unrealised potential to protect and solve operational dilemmas, would free humanitarian agencies from endless speculations.

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A tank moves towards the frontlines as people are fleeing Dominic Nahr Analysis

"Not in our name": Why Medecins sans frontières does not support the "responsability to protect"

08/01/2010 Fabrice Weissman

Argued in the 1990s in the name of the "right or duty to intervene", the application of military might to rescue populations in danger is now debated with reference to the "Responsibility to Protect" paradigm (or "R2P" for those in the know). In this article Fabrice Weissman explains why MSF refuses to adhere to this doctrine of ‘just war', whose legalisation would effectively be legalising a new form of imperialism.

 

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MSF distribue du matériel en Afghanistan Tim Dirven Cahier

MSF and protection: pending or closed?

04/01/2008 Judith Soussan

To embark upon a study of this theme is to enter a field strewn with contradictory representations linked to a highly sensitive issue – the limits of our responsibility – that has generated endless disagreements and debates on our “identity” and the existence or nonexistence of a role for MSF “beyond care”. 

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Distribution alimentaire au camp de Rajo à Mogadishu, en Somalia Yann Libessart Analysis

Somalia: A Humanitarian Crime

09/01/1993 Rony Brauman

In 1993, Médecins Sans Frontières left Somalia and denounced the methods of UN troops who were violating the very humanitarian principles in whose name they intervened.

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