Doctors without borders
Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) is an international medical and humanitarian organization that its help to the victims of natural or human disasters and of armed conflicts, without any discrimination of race, sex, religion, philosophy or politics. As of 2021, the group was active in 70 countries with more than 43,000 employees, mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistics experts, engineers, and water and sanitation managers. Private donors provide around 90% of the organization's funds, while corporate donations provide the rest, which gives MSF an annual budget that in 2019 was 1.686 million euros.
Doctors Without Borders was founded in 1971, following the secession of Biafra, by a small group of French doctors and journalists who sought to expand the accessibility of medical care beyond national borders and without distinction of race, religion, creed or political affiliation, defending the exercise of humanitarian aid as a right. To that end, the organization emphasizes "independence and impartiality" and it explicitly excludes political, economic or religious factors in its decision-making. For these reasons, it limits the amount of funds received from governments or intergovernmental organizations. These principles have allowed MSF to speak freely regarding acts of war, corruption, or other obstacles to medical care or human well-being.
MSF has the status of an organization with general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its members' continued efforts to provide medical care in acute crises, as well as to raise international awareness of potential humanitarian disasters. James Orbinski, who was the organization's president at At that time, he accepted the award on behalf of MSF. Prior to this, MSF was also awarded the Seoul Peace Prize in 1996.
History
Médecins Sans Frontières (in French) was founded in France in 1971 by a group of doctors and journalists, including Bernard Kouchner and Jacques Mabit.[citation needed]
Some doctors witnessed the genocide of the Ibo minority, as they worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This group felt frustrated by the obligation to remain silent - which the ICRC demanded of its members - about what they had seen and done in Biafra.[citation required]
The other group of doctors had just arrived from helping victims of the floods that devastated East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).
They realized that, once the decolonization process was completed, the international scenario was undergoing a transformation phase and it was necessary to adapt humanitarian aid to new needs. From then on, caring for the victims would not be enough: human rights violations would have to be denounced, opinion currents created through the media and help professionalized.
Currently, it has more than six million members, 3,600 international professionals and 37,800 local workers in 462 humanitarian programs in 72 countries. Prevents and treats some diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS and meningitis.
1967 to 1970 Biafra
During the Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970, the Nigerian military formed a blockade around the nation's newly independent southeastern region of Biafra. At the time, France was one of the only major countries supporting the Biafrans (the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States were siding with the Nigerian government), and the conditions within the blockade were unknown to the world. Several French doctors volunteered for the French Red Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centers in besieged Biafra. One of the organization's co-founders was Bernard Kouchner, who later became a high-ranking French politician.
After entering the country, the volunteers, as well as Biafran health workers and hospitals, came under fire from the Nigerian military, and witnessed the killing and starvation of civilians by blockade forces. The doctors publicly criticized the Nigerian government and the Red Cross for their apparently complicit behaviour. These doctors came to the conclusion that a new relief organization was needed that ignored political/religious boundaries and prioritized the welfare of survivors. In addition to Nigeria, MSF is present in several African countries, such as Benin, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Sudan, Sierra Leone, etc.
1971 creation
The Groupe d'intervention médicale et chirurgicale en urgency ("Emergency medical and surgical intervention group") ("Emergency Medical and Surgical Intervention Group") was created in 1971 by French doctors who had worked in Biafra, to provide assistance and emphasize the importance of the rights of survivors. At the same time, Raymond Borel, editor-in-chief of the French medical journal TONUS, had created a group called Secours Médical Français ("French Medical Relief") in response to the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which killed at least 625,000 people in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Borel wanted to recruit doctors to help survivors of natural disasters. On December 22, 1971, the two groups of colleagues merged to form Doctors Without Borders.
MSF's first mission was to the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, where an earthquake in 1972 had destroyed most of the city and killed between 10,000 and 30,000 people. The organization, today known for its rapid response in an emergency, it arrived three days after the Red Cross had set up a relief mission. On September 18 and 19, 1974, Hurricane Fifi-Orlene caused extensive flooding in Honduras, killing thousands (estimates vary), and MSF established its first long-term medical aid mission.
Between 1975 and 1979, after the fall of South Vietnam to North Vietnam, millions of Cambodians emigrated to Thailand to avoid the Khmer Rouge. In response, MSF established its first missions in refugee camps in Thailand. When Vietnam withdrew from Cambodia in 1989, MSF began long-term relief missions to help survivors of mass killings and rebuild the country's healthcare system. Although its missions to Thailand to help victims of war in Southeast Asia could be considered its first wartime mission, MSF conducted its first mission in an actual war zone, including exposure to hostile fire, in 1976. MSF spent nine years (1976-1984) assisting in surgeries in hospitals in various cities in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War, establishing a reputation for its neutrality and willingness to work under fire. Throughout the war, MSF helped both Christian militias and Shiite Muslim groups, whichever needed more medical help at the time. In 1984, as the situation in Lebanon deteriorated further and security for aid groups was reduced to a minimum, MSF withdrew its volunteers.
Numbers
According to the organization's 2010 activity report, the organization has five operational centers: in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Geneva, as well as 14 country offices located in Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia, which support the main centers.
According to the 2017 annual report of Doctors Without Borders, the largest projects according to expenditure were the Democratic Republic of the Congo (101 million Euros), South Sudan (74.3 million Euros), Yemen (61.5 million million Euros), the Central African Republic (57.8 million Euros) and Iraq (57.6 million Euros).
There are several additional offices, notably the International Office in Geneva, the Liaison Offices in New York and Brussels, the Geneva Access to Medicines Campaign, the Warehouse and the Fundraising Office in the United Arab Emirates and civil society associations in Africa and Latin America.
Funding
MSF bases its strategy on obtaining funds that provide stability, that come from diverse sources and that are committed to humanitarian principles. This is reflected in a fund structure in which those of private origin predominate over public ones, and whose greatest exponent is the direct contributions of partners and collaborators.
In 2017, 96% of the funds came from private funds and 2% from public funds. The organization's income in 2014 was 1,280.3 million euros, of which 89% (1,141.7 million euros) came from private financing; in 2015 revenue was 1,443.8 million euros, of which 92% (1,332.1 million euros) came from private financing. Operations in 2010 were carried out in 61 countries, with 2,769 volunteers international (7,086 departures) and 31,052 national employees.
On June 17, 2016, Doctors Without Borders resigned from the Funds of the EU and its Member States in protest of the harmful migration policy that is embodied in the EU-Turkey Agreement to outsource migration control of people.
Humanitarian principles
MSF's work is guided by medical ethics and the following principles of humanitarian action.
Humanity: all people have the right to be assisted in their hour of greatest need.
Independence: No political, economic or religious power dictates the actions of Doctors Without Borders.
Impartiality: Doctors Without Borders does not ask about ethnicity, religion or ideology of patients.
Neutrality: MSF does not take sides with anyone, only with people who need help.
Medical ethics: the obligation as doctors is to assist without causing harm.
In addition, MSF is committed to the following principles and values:
Proportionality: assistance must respond in a balanced way to the needs detected.
Professionalism: commitment to the quality and effectiveness of aid.
Proximity: provides direct assistance, without intermediaries.
Individual commitment: each MSF member assumes personal responsibility for their work and accepts the risks involved.
Non-profit: all funds received are used for medical action, testimony, administration and fundraising.
Aid control: both work and finances are subject to strict internal and external supervision.
Transparency: MSF's accounts and financial reports are public.
Nobel Peace Prize 1999
Doctors Without Borders MSF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. The then-president of MSF, In the opening he discusses the conditions of the victims of the Rwandan genocide.
"Humanitarianism is not a tool to end war or to create peace. It is a citizen response to political failure. It is an immediate short-term act that cannot erase the long-term needs of political responsibility.There are no words to describe the courage with which our Rwandan staff worked. There are no words to describe the horror in which they died. Hundreds of women, children and men came to the hospital that day, so many of us had to put them on the street. And in many cases, we operated on them right there while around the hospital the sewers literally sprinkled blood everywhere." - Speech of the then president of MSF, James Orbinski. |
Other awards
- The Nobel Committee on Norway granted it be a pioneer in humanitarian work in several localities. He also won the Prince of Asturias Award for Concordia in 1991.
- He received the Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award in 2015.
Controversies and criticisms
Labor exploitation
The recruiters of members of Doctors Without Borders in Spain have denounced labor exploitation conditions. These include productivity clauses by which recruiters can be fired without compensation if they do not achieve 24 member registrations per month. According to Comisiones Obreras, this "is an almost impossible goal." This practice leads to high turnover which reduces unionization. CCOO and CNT brought this practice before the courts in 2017. The case was dismissed in the Galician Superior Court of Justice for a formal defect and is currently pending in the Supreme Court.
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