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Les valeurs que défend Médecins Sans Frontières

Authors
Jean-Marc Biquet, Janssens V.
Topic
Tags
In
Militaires-Humanitaires. A chacun son rôle
Issue
Bruxelles: Complexe, Grip, pp. 239-260
2002

"Who do they think they are? The new Knights Hospitaller? A sword in one hand and a stethoscope in the other!" That was, in essence, the ulcerated reaction of the humanitarian community after food packages were dropped by the U.S. military over Afghanistan – between two bombings. During the "first humanitarian war" waged by NATO in Kosovo (1999), it had already felt a real sense of revolt.

Faced with these criticisms, the military pleaded not guilty. It claims its right to conduct humanitarian actions, but denies doing so at the expense of those for whom it is the essential task. Its initiatives are intended to be complementary or purely logistical. For many humanitarian NGOs, there is a confusion of roles for political and media purposes. Everything is a matter of principle: humanitarian action begins with an intention (to save human lives), which is only fleetingly found with the military and states. Humanitarian action must remain an approach in itself…

 
 
 
 
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