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Médecins Sans Frontières and the ICRC: matters of principle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2013

Rony Brauman
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Keywords

humanitarian principlesneutralityindependenceimpartialityBiafraSyria
Type
Comments and Opinions
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 94 , Issue 888: ICRC: 150 years of Humanitarian Action , December 2012 , pp. 1523 - 1535
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2013 

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References

1 Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, in order of establishment.

2 Kouchner, Bernard, Charité Business, Editions Le Pré aux Clercs, Paris, 1986, p. 217Google Scholar.

3 Jean-Claude Favez, with Geneviève Billeter, Une mission impossible? Le CICR, les déportations et les camps de concentration nazis, Éditions Payot, Lausanne, 1988 [published in English as Favez, Jean-Claude, Fletcher, John and Fletcher, Beryl, The Red Cross and the Holocaust, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999Google Scholar ].

4 Marie-Luce Desgrandschamps, ‘Revenir sur le mythe fondateur de Médecins Sans Frontières: les relations entre les médecins français et le CICR pendant la guerre du Biafra (1967–1970)’ [Retracing the founding myth of Médecins Sans Frontières: Relations between French doctors and the ICRC during the war in Biafra (1967–1970)], in Relations internationales, No. 146, April–June 2011, available at: http://www.cairn.info/revue-relations-internationales-2011-2-page-95.htm (all the Internet references were accessed in January 2013, unless otherwise stated).

5 For a detailed analysis of MSF's founding myths, see Brauman, Rony, ‘Les liaisons dangereuses du témoignage humanitaire et de la propagande politique’ [The dangerous relationships between bearing witness and political propaganda], in Pape, Marc Le, Siméant, Johanna and Vidal, Claudine (eds), Crises extrêmes: Face aux massacres, aux guerres civiles et aux génocides [Extreme crises: Facing massacres, civil wars and genocide], Éditions La Découverte, Paris, 2006, available at: http://www.msf-crash.org/publications/#article99Google Scholar.

6 ‘La cause des victimes’ [On the side of the victims], in Le Monde, 17 October 1999.

7 Kellenberger, Jakob, ‘Speaking out or remaining silent in humanitarian work’, in International Review of the Red Cross (IRRC), Vol. 86, No. 855, 2004, pp. 593–609CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Allié, Marie-Pierre, ‘Introduction: Acting at Any Price?’, in Magone, Claire, Neumann, Michaël and Weissman, Fabrice (eds), Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience, Hurst, London, 2011Google Scholar. See also, Fabrice Weissman, ‘Sri Lanka. Amid All-out War’, idem.

9 See, on this subject, Vallaeys, Anne, MSF: La biographie [MSF: The biography], Editions Fayard, Paris, 2004Google Scholar, and Binet, Laurence (ed.), Prises de position publiques [‘Case Studies: Médecins Sans Frontières Speaks Out’ series], MSF International, Paris, 2004Google Scholar.

10 It is common to distinguish between Dunantist organizations, such as the ICRC, MSF, and Save the Children, which distance themselves from the interests of the state, and ‘Wilsonian organizations, which consider American values and, more broadly, those of democratic states as a force for good.

11 M.-L. Desgrandschamps, above note 4.

12 ICRC, ‘Côte d'Ivoire: hundreds of civilians killed in Duékoué’, News Release No. 11/82, 2 April 2011, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2011/cote-d-ivoire-news-2011-01-04.htm.

13 Kellenberger, Jakob, ‘Too little, too late for the victims of Darfur’, in International Herald Tribune, 30 August 2004Google Scholar.

14 The ICRC also reserves the right to issue a public condemnation when four conditions are met. See ‘Action by the International Committee of the Red Cross in the event of violations of international humanitarian law or of other fundamental rules protecting persons in situations of violence’, in International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 87, No. 858, 2005, p. 398, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/irrc_858_violations_ihl.pdf.

15 MSF, ‘Libye: Des détenus torturés et privés de soins médicaux’ [Detainees tortured and denied medical care], in msf.azg.be, 26 January 2012, available at: http://www.msf-azg.be/fr/presse/libye-des-d%C3%A9tenus-tortur%C3%A9s-et-priv%C3%A9s-de-soinsm%C3%A9dicaux.

16 ICRC, ‘Libya: hardship and danger remain’, Operational Update No. 12/01, 16 February 2012, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/2012/libya-update-2012-02-16.htm.

17 See F. Weissmann, ‘Silence Heals … from the Cold War to the War on Terror, MSF Speaks Out: a Brief History’, in Magone et al., above note 8.

18 Irène Hermann, ‘La Croix-Rouge et la neutralité’ [The Red Cross and neutrality], unpublished paper delivered at ‘Action humanitaire et complexité’ [Humanitarian action and complexity] symposium, Fribourg, 8 May 2009. I thank the author for having sent me the text.

19 MSF, ‘En Syrie, la médecine est utilisée comme une arme de persécution’ [In Syria, medicine is used as a weapon of persecution], in msf.fr, 8 February 2012, available at: http://msf.fr/presse/communiques/en-syrie-medecine-est-utilisee-comme-arme-persecution.

20 Rubinstein, Jennifer C., ‘The distributive commitments of international NGOs’, in Barnett, M. and Weiss, T. (eds), Humanitarianism In Question: Politics, Power, Ethics, Cornell University Press, New York, 2008Google Scholar.

21 MSF-Holland, Middle-Term Policy, 1/2003-12/2005, cited by J. C. Rubinstein, in M. Barnett and T. Weiss (eds), above note 20, p. 221.

22 Editor's note: For an ICRC position on issues related to the impartiality of humanitarian aid in Syria, see Pierre Krähenbühl, ‘There are no “good” or “bad” civilians in Syria – we must help all who need aid’, in The Guardian, 3 March 2013, available at http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/feature/2013/03-05-syria-aid-krahenbuhl.htm (last visited March 2013). For examples of ICRC activities carried out across front lines, see, e.g., ‘Syria: aid reaches beleaguered population in Homs and Harasta’, Operational Update No. 14/2012, 25 October 2012, available at: www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/2012/syria-update-2012-10-25.htm; ‘Syria: assistance reaches people in Old City of Homs’, News Release No. 12/213, 4 November 2012, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2012/11-04-syria-homs.htm; and ‘Syria: Humanitarian situation catastrophic’, Press Briefing, 19 February 2013, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/press-briefing/2013/02-15-syria-humanitarian-situation.htm.

23 Author's interviews with several ICRC members in early November 2012.

24 Editor's note: In accordance with its mission, the ICRC seeks, rather, to be as close as possible to the victims in all the conflict situations in which it works. Many recent operations also show that the ICRC operates on both sides of the front lines. For further information on each ICRC operation, see ‘Where we work – the ICRC worldwide’, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/where-we-work/index.jsp.

25 The ‘Abu Ghraib scandal’ broke out in May 2004, with the publication of photos taken by US soldiers showing the abuses that they were inflicting on Iraqi prisoners.

26 ‘Tortures en Irak: le CICR avait averti Washington’ [Torture in Iraq: The ICRC had warned Washington], in Swissinfo.ch, 6 May 2004, available at: http://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/archive/Tortures_en_Irak:_le_CICR_avait_averti_Washington.html?cid=3891812.

27 For a discussion in context of humanitarian negotiations, see most of the chapters of Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed, above note 8.

28 Walzer, Michael, Morale maximale, morale minimale, Bayard, Paris, 2004Google Scholar [translation of Walzer, Michael, Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 1994Google Scholar].

29 Ibid.