Editing Médecins Sans Frontières (section)

====Rwandan genocide====
When the [[genocide in Rwanda]] began in April 1994, some delegates of MSF working in the country were incorporated into the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC) medical team for protection. Both groups succeeded in keeping all main hospitals in Rwanda's capital [[Kigali]] operational throughout the main period of the genocide. MSF, together with several other aid organisations, had to leave the country in 1995, although many MSF and ICRC volunteers worked together under the ICRC's rules of engagement, which held that neutrality was of the utmost importance. These events led to a debate within the organisation about the concept of balancing neutrality of humanitarian aid workers against their witnessing role. As a result of its Rwanda mission, the position of MSF with respect to neutrality moved closer to that of the ICRC, a remarkable development in the light of the origin of the organisation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Forsythe |first1=David P. |title=International Humanitarianism in the Contemporary World: Forms and Issues |journal=Human Rights & Human Welfare |date=January 2005 |volume=5 |issue=1 |at=Article 57 |url=https://digitalcommons.du.edu/hrhw/vol5/iss1/57|archive-date=12 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312222943/https://digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1143&context=hrhw |publisher=Josef Korbel School of International Studies}}</ref>

[[File:Mihanda camp.jpg|thumb|250px|Aerial photograph of a Mihanda, [[Zaire]] [[refugee camp]] in 1996. Pictured are 500+ tents set up in the [[Mitumba Mountains]].]]
The ICRC lost 56 and MSF lost almost one hundred of their respective local staff in Rwanda, and MSF-France, which had chosen to evacuate its team from the country (the local staff were forced to stay), denounced the murders and demanded that a [[Military of France|French military]] intervention stop the genocide. MSF-France introduced the slogan "One cannot stop a genocide with doctors" to the media, and the controversial [[Opération Turquoise]] followed less than one month later.<ref name="hih"/> This intervention directly or indirectly resulted in movements of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees to [[Zaire]] and Tanzania in what became known as the [[Great Lakes refugee crisis]], and subsequent cholera epidemics, starvation and more mass killings in the large groups of civilians. MSF-France returned to the area and provided medical aid to refugees in [[Goma]].<ref>{{cite web |title=One cannot stop a genocide with doctors |language=fr |url=http://www.msf.fr/site/actu.nsf/actus/msfen1994 |archive-date=10 December 2006 |work=MSF-France |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210082737/http://www.msf.fr/site/actu.nsf/actus/msfen1994 |access-date=7 January 2006 }}</ref>

At the time of the genocide, competition between the medical efforts of MSF, the ICRC, and other aid groups had reached an all-time high,<ref>{{cite web |last=Forsythe |first=David P. |year=1996 |title=The International Committee of the Red Cross and humanitarian assistance – A policy analysis |work=International Review of the Red Cross |url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/57jnav.htm |volume=314 |pages=512–531 }}</ref> but the conditions in Rwanda prompted a drastic change in the way humanitarian organisations approached aid missions. The ''Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief Programmes'' was created by the ICRC in 1994 to provide a framework for humanitarian missions and MSF is a signatory of this code.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_disasters.pl?codeconduct_signatories.pdf |title=Code of Conduct for the ICRC Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief: List of signatories }} '''ICRC'''. Retrieved 7 January 2006.</ref> The code advocates the provision of humanitarian aid only, and groups are urged not to serve any political or religious interest, or be used as a tool for foreign governments.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ifrc.org/publicat/conduct/code.asp |title=Principles of Conduct for The ICRC Movement and NGOs in Disaster Response Programmes |work=ICRC |access-date=7 January 2006 }}</ref> MSF has since still found it necessary to condemn the actions of governments, such as in [[Chechnya]] in 1999,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1999/msf/lecture/ |title=Médecins Sans Frontières (James Orbinski) – Nobel Lecture |work=Nobelprize.org |access-date=7 January 2006 }}</ref> but has not demanded another military intervention since then.<ref name="hih">{{cite book |last=Bortolotti |first=Dan |year=2004 |title=Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders |publisher=Firefly Books |isbn=1-55297-865-6}}</ref>