Herve hits the mark when he says: “It is with a great bitterness that we have had to decide to leave the country.” A parting shot from MSF (France).
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Prevented from working, the French Section of MSF leaves Myanmar
March 2006
The French section of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has ended its medical programs in Myanmar (Burma). Dr. Hervé Isambert, MSF program manager, explains the reasons for the departure.
What type of work was the French section of MSF doing in Myanmar?
Since 2001, we have run a medical program to treat malaria in the states of Mon and Karen, a region affected by an armed conflict between the Burmese army and rebel groups. We chose to work in the conflict area because, from a humanitarian perspective, the people living there are particularly vulnerable. They are exposed to violence and are deprived of health care. Malaria is one of the primary causes of death in this region.
Why did we decide to end our programs in the country?
We had to face up to the facts: the Myanmar authorities do not want independent, foreign organizations to be close to the populations they want to control. The authorities don't want anyone to witness how they organize the forced displacement of the population, the burning of villages, and forced recruitment. In 2001, we thought the regime was easing up and, indeed, until 2004, we did have access to those regions and could work under acceptable conditions. But in 2004, the regime's hardliners regained control, taking a radical position with respect to the rebellions and, as a result, to the humanitarian workers in the regions where the rebels are active. Today, we have to acknowledge that it was incredulous to think that room existed for a humanitarian organization to work there. We have concluded that it is impossible to assist people living in these conflict areas given the conditions required to carry out independent humanitarian action. Our teams had no freedom to travel, we had less and less direct contact with the people we had come to help, we were unable to follow up our field activities, etc, etc.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
It means that our opportunities to work and get out into the field continued to shrink. First, local authorities prohibited us from traveling within the affected areas. In October 2004, the authorization we had just received to work in Ye district was suddenly withdrawn. Ye district is one of the areas most affected by malaria in Mon state. Between November 2004 and February 2005, nearly all of our activities in Karen state were blocked. In the end, it even became impossible to exchange medical data on epidemics with local health authorities given the pressure they faced from the military, which forbid the distribution of any information. The measures became even stricter in mid-2005 when the ministry imposed complicated procedures for obtaining visas–with delays becoming longer and longer–and for permission for international staff to travel between the capital and these border states. The space for working just kept on shrinking until there was none left. It goes without saying that the people are the ones who suffer the consequences of the hardening of the regime.
What about the other sections of MSF (Swiss and Dutch) and other aid organizations working in Myanmar?
The other MSF sections also face serious problems in accessing the population in the regions they work in, and they wonder about the future of their projects. Concerning the MSF AIDS program in Rangoon, the Myanmar doctors working with us are subject to administrative harassment, but the project managers feel they can still provide quality care to their patients without making unacceptable compromises with the authorities.
In December, the ICRC ended its programs with prisoners because the conditions imposed–that a pro-government agent accompany their teams–had become unacceptable. We weren't the first to reach this conclusion.
For humanitarian organizations, the issue is to recognize when our role has been reduced to being a technical service provider of the Myanmar authorities, subject to their political agenda and no longer to the goals that we have set for ourselves as a humanitarian organization. Speaking for the French section's programs, we believe that we have crossed that line. It is with a great bitterness that we have had to decide to leave the country.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/voices/2006/03-2006_myanmar.cfm
March 30, 2006
Prevented From Working, the French Section of MSF Leaves Myanmar (Burma)
A patient is treated in a mobile clinic in Myanmar. Photo © Laurence Hugues/MSF
Paris, March 30, 2006 – After four years in Myanmar (Burma), the French section of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has closed its medical programs and left the country. The programs were situated in Mon and Karen states, a region bordering Thailand and caught in an armed conflict between the Burmese military government and rebel groups. MSF has left because of unacceptable conditions imposed by the authorities on how to provide relief to people living in war-affected areas. The French section of MSF ended its presence in Myanmar on March 26 when the head of mission departed from the country.
In 2001, MSF began medical activities in Mon and Karen states, focusing mainly on malaria treatment. Malaria is one of the main causes of death in the area, where there is poor access to health care. Since 2004, MSF's access to the population became increasingly difficult. By the end of 2005, the military authorities had imposed so many travel restrictions on MSF, and applied such pressure on local health authorities not to cooperate with our teams, that it became impossible for MSF to work in an acceptable manner.
"The Burmese regime wants absolute control over any humanitarian actor present in these politically-sensitive regions," explains Dr. Hervé Isambert, program manager for the French section of MSF in Myanmar. "If we accept the restrictions imposed on us today, we would become nothing more than a technical service provider subject to the political priorities of the junta. It appears that the Burmese authorities do not want anyone to witness the abuses they are committing against their own population."
Faced with this deadlock, the French section of MSF has decided to close its programs and leave the country.
The Dutch and Swiss sections of MSF continue to work in Myanmar. Although they too are facing serious access problems in the regions where they work and are concerned about the future of their projects, for the time being they feel they can remain in the country and provide quality care to their patients without making unacceptable compromises with the authorities.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/2006/03-30-2006.cfm
March 30, Reuters
Prevented from working, the French section of MSF leaves Myanmar
"The Burmese regime wants absolute control over any humanitarian actor
present in these politically-sensitive regions," explains Dr. Hervé
Isambert, Program Manager for the French section of MSF in Myanmar.
MSF : Paris - After four years in Myanmar (Burma), the French section of
Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) has closed its medical programs and left
the country. The programs were situated in the Mon and Karen states, a
region bordering Thailand, and caught in an armed conflict between the
Burmese military government and rebel groups.
MSF has left because of unacceptable conditions imposed by the authorities
on how to provide relief to people living in war-affected areas. The
French section of MSF ended its presence in Myanmar on the 26th of March
when the head of mission departed from the country.
In 2001, MSF began medical activities in Mon and Karen states, mainly
focusing on malaria treatment. Malaria is one of the main causes of death
in this area of conflict where there is poor access to health care. Since
2004, MSF’s access to the population became increasingly difficult.
By the end of 2005, the military authorities had imposed so many travel
restrictions on MSF and applied such pressure on local health authorities
not to cooperate with our teams, that it became impossible for MSF to work
in an acceptable manner.
"The Burmese regime wants absolute control over any humanitarian actor
present in these politically-sensitive regions," explains Dr. Hervé
Isambert, program manager for the French section of MSF in Myanmar. "If we
accept the restrictions imposed on us today, we would become nothing more
than a technical service provider subject to the political priorities of
the junta. It appears that the Burmese authorities do not want anyone to
witness the abuses they are committing against their own population."
Faced with this deadlock, the French section of MSF has decided to close
its programs and leave the country.
The Dutch and Swiss sections of MSF continue to work in Myanmar. Although
they too are facing serious access problems in the regions where they work
and are concerned about the future of their projects, for the time being
they feel they can remain in the country and provide quality care to their
patients without making unacceptable compromises with the authorities.
Only selected MSF documents are posted on Alertnet. For a complete
selection of MSF news, please visit the MSF International website
http://www.msf.org
March 30, Agence France Presse
Medical charity pulls French staff from Myanmar
The international medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said
Thursday it was closing its French office in Myanmar after four years
because government restrictions had made it impossible to work there.
The aid agency said the head of its French mission had left Myanmar on
March 26, because unacceptable conditions imposed by the authorities on
working with people who live in a war zone.
MSF said its Swiss and Dutch sections would continue to operate in the
country, formerly known as Burma, which has been ruled by the military for
four decades. But it said they were also "questioning the future" of their
projects in Myanmar.
The Paris-based charity has since 2001 been working in the Thai border
regions of Mon and Karen, which are caught in the armed conflict between
Myanmar's military regime and armed rebel groups.
"The Myanmar regime wants to get rid of all humanitarian workers in these
politically sensitive regions," said Herve Isambert, head of MSF's French
programme in Myanmar.
"The restrictions imposed on us reduced us to the role of specialist
contractors subjected to the political will of the military junta. In
reality, the Myanmar authorities do not want anyone to witness the acts of
violence they are committing against their own people," he added.
