This article states: "in 2006 the French branch of the organisation decided to leave Burma when the military regime submitted a long list of demands" Can any [him] reader let us all in on the secret. What were the demands?
[him] moderator
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Abandoning principles to provide aid
Klaas den Tek
21 November 2011
Médecins Sans Frontières has taken a long, hard look at itself and is less than pleased with the results.
In a recently published report, the international aid organisation writes that ethical dilemmas are unavoidable in crisis situations. MSF has often concluded agreements with warlords and signed contracts of secrecy; whatever it took to be able to provide aid.
The organisation’s think tank has now published a highly critical report, which concludes that in conflict areas - MSF’s natural habitat - it often made the wrong choices. Aid workers allowed dictatorial regimes to dictate where they could or could not work. MSF also did business with armed militias and kept silent about abuse.
Dilemmas
Arjan Hehenkamp (43) is director of the organisation’s Dutch branch. As an aid worker, Hehenkamp signed a contract of secrecy with the authorities in Sri Lanka. Refusing to do so would have barred his medical team from entering a government internment camp for refugees from the Tamil region.
“If I’d refused to make this compromise, we would have been deported immediately. And there’s the dilemma. Sometimes we have no choice but to accept this kind of situation. The only way to provide aid in the world’s most terrible places is making concessions to some of our principles. So you can help people after all.”
Aid organisation
In Somalia the Islamist movement Al Shabaab demands aid organisations pay them 15,000 euros every six months. They also have to pay 7,000 euros in ‘registration costs.’ MSF has so far refused to comply. However, the aid organisation was unable to prevent local employees from handing over five percent of their salaries to the militiamen. In other countries warlords demand a car or a boat.
Sometimes the demands were more than MSF could take: in 2006 the French branch of the organisation decided to leave Burma when the military regime submitted a long list of demands. Surprisingly, the Dutch branch is currently treating 1,600 HIV/AIDS patients in that country. The MSF think tank reports there is sometimes not a single guideline for all MSF teams.
Conflict zones
Dutch reporter Hans Jaap Melissen often works in areas of conflict. He wrote a critical book about the relief efforts in Haiti after the 2010 quake. Melissen says he is not surprised about the conclusions of the MSF report; nearly all aid organisations are facing similar dilemmas. You need to delegate more work to the local population argues Melissen.
“Training local people to take over the work of international aid organisations is the only way to avoid being extorted. Western aid organisations are regarded as a kind of ATM. Ultimately, these countries will have to start doing more, that’s the only solution."
Donors
Arjan Hehenkamp does not believe that the critical report will drive many MSF donors away. He expects the organisation’s openness will increase sponsor confidence. He does not expect there will be any radical changes in policy:
“I don’t think so. We are simply showing our choices and dilemmas in all openness. As an organisation, we may spend years discussing these choices, which are the subject of fierce arguments. We must accept that we have to make concessions, and make sure they are being evaluated. That’s what we are doing in this report.”
Yet another conclusion drawn in the report is that medical emergency aid after natural disasters is rarely really necessary. Victim estimates often prove exaggerated, or local hospitals are actually able to cope by themselves. Aid organisations actually only go to the affected areas because it is expected of them.
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/abandoning-principles-provide-aid
