Populations in danger 1995

We present here in their original edition the volumes of the "Populations in Danger" collection, launched by MSF in 1992, at the initiative of François Jean. These collective works, designed as an annual MSF report "on major crises and humanitarian action", presented MSF members, and all those interested in humanitarian action, with the reflections of MSF members and researchers on the contexts in which MSF operated and on the evolution of international responses to crises. This period in the early 1990s was one of great upheaval, in connection with the new interventionism of the United Nations and the deployment of armed forces in crisis areas. These books thus enabled operational managers to benefit from assistance in thinking about their work environment.

Original presentation :

« Never again »: in the wake of the second World War, the terror caused by the Holocaust led the community of states to condemn genocide as a crime and to create a new international organization, the United Nations. And yet, half a century later, the international community did nothing to prevent the first undeniable genocide since that of the Jews: it let the massacre of the Rwandan Tutsis and merely sent humanitarian aid, even though it was nearly over. 

The Rwandan tragedy is at the heart of this new annual report from Médecins Sans Frontières, which aims at drawing attention on populations in distress and to stimulate the reflection on humanitarian action. Beyond the solidarity concern, humanitarian aid cannot be utilized as an alibi for politics’ cowardice or cynicism. This warning is precisely the one MSF intends to spread, through a concise analysis of the most serious crises that made the news headlines and a critical reflection on the ambiguities of humanitarian action. 

For the first time, this annual report includes a “humanitarian atlas”, whose maps, realized by the Laboratoire d’études politiques et d’analyses cartographiques – LEPAC, illustrate the main challenges faced by humanitarian organizations. 

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