War and humanitarianism

With the end of the Cold War came the hope of a "New World Order". yet the tragedies of war and famine continue to dominate our headlines. Humanitarian law is still violated every day. Emergency aid from the United Nations and donor governments remains inadequate and military interventions often fail to restore durable peace.

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.

In the world today entire populations are at immediate risk of death from either famine, war, epidemics or displacement. The people of Southern Sudan, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Mozambique, Peru, Sri Lanka, Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the Tuaregs, the Kurds and Burma's Moslems are those who face the most serious threats.

We are pleased to welcome Pierre Hazan, author of the book Négocier avec le diable. La médiation dans les conflits armés for a conference and debate on Thursday December 15th, 2022, 18:30, at MSF (34 avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris). The conference will be livestreamed and translated simultaneously to English.

Conference and debate, May 17th, 2022, from 18:30 to 20:30 (Paris time), MSF (14-34 avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019 Paris). The conference will be livestreamed and translated simultaneously to English.

The members of the Crash team are happy to welcome you all to an online conference-debate with anthropologist Vanja Kovačič, on Thursday 17th of February, starting at 6:30PM, on this webpage. The conference will be in English and simultaneously translated into French. The author will introduce her recently-published book "Reconstructing lives Victims of war in the Middle East and Médecins Sans Frontières" (Manchester University Press, translation in French and Arabic coming soon.)  

We are very happy to welcome two authors of the book: sociologist (CNRS) and Crash scientific committee member Claudine Vidal, and Jean-Hervé Bradol, doctor, former President of the French section of MSF and current director studies at the Crash, for the launching event of the newly-published book “Violences extrêmes. Enquêter, secourir, juger République démocratique du Congo, Rwanda, Syrie” (Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, Paris 2021). The event will be hosted by Rony Brauman.

Conference – debate, Thursday, 3 October 2019, 6-8pm, 1st floor meeting room at MSF, 8 rue Saint Sabin. Streaming and simultaneous translation into English available.
 
What turns ordinary men into killers? The CRASH team invites you to a conference – debate with the sociologist and historian, Nicolas Mariot, author of an article entitled « Faut-il être motivé pour tuer?  Sur quelques explications aux violences de guerre » (Genèses, n°53, 2003, p. 154-177) and books such as  “Face à la persécution. 991 Juifs dans la guerre (with Claire Zalc, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2010), “Tous unis dans la tranchée ? 1914-1918, les intellectuels rencontrent le peuple (Paris, Seuil, 2013). Nicolas Mariot will present two differing interpretations of motivations for mass violence in the 20th century, drawn from a series of studies and surveys on the subject.

Theaters of war, genocide, mass crimes, Syria, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are at the heart of the international symposium organized by the platform L’humanitaire dans la globalisation of the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH) and the Centre de Réflexion sur l'Action et les Savoirs Humanitaires (CRASH) of Médecins Sans Frontières. This symposium is part of the commemoration by these two institutions of the 25 years of the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis.

The CRASH team invites you to the screening-debate “France in Rwanda. Guilty neutrality” on Monday 11th of February 2019 from 6 to 8pm, in the 1rst floor room of the 8 rue Saint-Sabin. A documentary film by Robert Genoud and Claudine Vidal (Director Emeritus for research at the CNRS, member of the CRASH scientific committee at MSF), and produced by EUP. Before and after the screening, Claudine Vidal and Jean-Hervé Bradol, both actors of MSF mobilization between 1994 and 1998 launch the discussion.