Médecins Sans Frontières and the Ethics of Aid

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, was founded in Paris in December 1971 by doctors and journalists. Some founders had worked with the Red Cross during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), when a blockade of Biafra contributed to mass famine, and they had become frustrated with the rule of neutral silence. MSF combined medical aid with témoignage, or bearing witness, speaking publicly about what its staff saw. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

MSF's history also shows the dilemmas of humanitarianism: aid can be diverted by armed groups, as happened in refugee camps after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, leading some MSF sections to withdraw. Scholars such as Alex de Waal have questioned whether international aid always serves those it targets. Humanitarians must balance access, independence and honesty, and there is no perfect answer.