Advocacy

Temoignage, bearing witness and speaking out

OUR PROXIMITY TO PEOPLE IN DISTRESS IMPLIES A DUTY TO RAISE AWARENESS TO IMPROVE THEIR SITUATION.
Our teams may witness violence, atrocities, and neglect in the course of their work. Témoignage – translated as bearing witness – is the act of raising awareness, either in private or in public, about what we see happening in front of us.

At times, MSF may speak out publicly to bring a forgotten crisis into view, or to denounce abuses, or challenge the diversion of assistance, or to call out policies that restrict access to medical care or essential medicines.

In this spirit, we launched the MSF Access Campaign in 1999 to push for access to essential medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for patients in our projects and beyond. We funded this initiative with the prize money from the Nobel Peace Prize, which MSF was awarded in 1999.

Attacks on Hospitals

One important strand of our advocacy has been to document and denounce attacks on hospitals. 

As the war in Syria has ground on, we have documented the war-wounded and war-dead, using the medical facilities we support to gather data. 

The data “shows a total of 94 aerial and shelling attacks hit MSF-supported facilities, with 12 cases leading to total destruction (the first spike was recorded in May and June, followed by October), as well as a total of 81 medical staff killed or wounded.”

You can read the full report here. 

Bearing Witness

This clear, verified and first-hand information is vital for our organisation’s credibility and is the foundation of our advocacy.

In this case, the data provides a compelling case to make to governments and non-state actors about the humanitarian consequences of their actions. 

In another example, following the bombing of an MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on 3 October 2016 we advocated to the United Nations Security Council in the lead up to the signature of a Resolution 2286: “Strongly Condemning Attacks against Medical Facilities, Personnel in Conflict Situations.” 

Dr Joanne Liu, MSF International President described in her speech what had happened: “Make no mistake: we will relentlessly denounce attacks on healthcare. 

“We will speak out loudly and with force about what we witness in the field.”