The international medical organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors Without Borders), announced today, May 5, 2016 that it is not going to the World Humanitarian Summit. In a statement, MSF said it was pulling out “with disappointment”, after months of preparatory discussions. MSF believes the summit may let those most responsible for spiralling humanitarian need – governments – off the hook. The summit has lost its way and become, in MSF’s opinion, “a fig-leaf of good intentions”.
A spokesman for the UN’s emergency aid coordination body, OCHA, Herve Verhoosel, told IRINNEWS.ORG the move was “disappointing”, given MSF’s “strong and influential voice”.
This is the first discussion comments of Facebook, instantly after the announcement, starting by Peter Bouckaert, Emergency Director at Human Rights Watch
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MSF, one of the world’s most respected and courageous humanitarian organizations, has decided to pull out of the upcoming UN World Humanitarian Summit, saying the summit will not address issues of crucial importance such as the need for UN reform, the lack in global emergency response capacity, and the muddling of emergency response and development agendas. They feel the agenda will let governments who cause major humanitarian crises and obstruct humanitarian responses off the hook.
“I don’t think this is ‘toys out of the pram’; I think MSF is desperately frightened to consistently find itself alone in trying to respond to needs that far overwhelm MSF.”
Meghan Rose “I think MSF is desperately frightened to consistently find itself alone in trying to respond to needs that far overwhelm MSF.” The strange thing is everyone feels this way, no? I wonder why everyone else keeps repeating/keeping an exhaustive pattern that only brings harm/more crazy making to the situation.
Peter N. Bouckaert The difference is that MSF is frequently the only humanitarian actor responding to overwhelming needs in the most dangerous places. That was the case at the height of the CAR crisis (with ICRC and ACF) and is the case in Syria. We may all feel overwhelmed, but that doesn’t mean that we are all there on the front lines with them.
So who is going to fight for doing the right thing? I don’t get the reasoning behind this. The same as I didn’t get the reasoning behind them and other NGOs pulling out of camps for political reasons. NGOs are supposed to be non political.
GO to our earlier story, by moodhackerblog
One after the other NGOs pull out of #Lesvos hotspots sending strong message to EU
As humanitarian crisis was unfolding at the Athens port of Piraeus, where thousands of asylum seekers and migrants were stranded…
Greek2m eye 