Speaking Out Case studies
Welcome to the Médecins Sans Frontières Speaking Out Case Studies website where you will find a series of studies that openly examine and analyse the organisation’s actions and decision-making process during crisis that have led it to speak out.
From denouncing the forced relocation in Ethiopia in 1985 to the inaction of the international community during the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis in 1994 and the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech that demanded an end to indiscriminate bombings of civilians in Chechnya and much more.
In these studies, key information sources – MSF volunteers’ written and oral recollections – are reconstructed by highlighting archive documents, press articles and videos from the period concerned and interviewing the main actors involved.
These case studies were originally designed as an educational tool for and only available to associative members of the organisation. With the hope of broadening their educational scope the studies are now being made available in French and English to the public for free on this website.
Video
Speaking Out Case Studies
On 6 April 1994, the plane carrying the Rwandan President was shot down as it approached Kigali. The slaughter of the Tutsi minority commenced. From April to July 1994, more than 500 000 to 1 million Rwandan Tutsi were systematically exterminated. The genocide was the outcome of long-standing strategies implemented by politico-military extremists who roused ethnic resentments against the Tutsi minority. The extremists also killed many Rwandan Hutu who opposed the massacres.
The genocide of the Rwandan Tutsi led to a series of extreme crises that continued to devastate the Great Lakes region of Central Africa until today. The MSF Speaking Out Case Study (SOCS) series document the dilemmas, constraints, questioning, and controversies associated with MSF's public speaking in the context of these crises until 1997.
Four case studies and a podcast are available in French and English to provide food for thought.
Highlights
MSF Speaking Out
Rwandan Refugee Camps in Zaire and Tanzania 1994-1995
Speaking Out Case Studies
1 Apr 2014
MSF Speaking Out
The Violence of the New Rwandan Regime 1994-1995
Speaking Out Case Studies
31 Mar 2014
MSF Speaking Out
The Hunting and Killing of Rwandan Refugees in Zaire-Congo: 1996-1997
Speaking Out Case Studies
1 Apr 2014