-Medecins Sans Frontieres was born
from the breaking of a silence.
In 1971 when the Biafrans spoke out about what they had
witnessed in Nigeria, {Tim} {Monyage} formed one
of the core principles of Medecins Sans Frontieres
medical action, alongside humanity, independence,
and impartiality.
-The speaking out case studies are a series
of reviews basically using a very rigorous methodology
to capture a moment in MSF's history.
-Going through MSF history, case by case, going in detail
to show what was the debate.
Going on within the movement, within the section,
between the field and the headquarters at the very moment
that choice had to be made.
-The case studies include watershed moments
such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and Chechnya.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
-And so it was decided to go on a sort
of chronological presentation, going from each day
after each day and crossing information, crossing
documentation, to make sure that we were as close as
possible to what was really happening,
and not what was said later on.
[SPEAKING FRENCH]
-It's essential that we capture what
were the choices that we were faced with?
What were the outcomes from making those choices to speak
out under very, very difficult circumstances.
And what inherently then can we learn from the choices
that we made in those kinds of projects
and those moments in history may be very, very valuable
learning points for us.
-I appeal here today to his excellency, the Ambassador
of Russia, and through him, to President Yeltsin,
to stop the bombing of defenseless civilians
in Chechnya.
-Initially, the speaking out case studies
were available only to the movement.
But with growing interest from the public and academics
and humanitarian workers outside of MSF,
the introductions and timelines were posted online.
-So there's a range of interviews
with internal and external stakeholders.
A very, very rich tapestry of information that
can be tucked into.
-Now a growing culture of transparency
has culminated in the decision to make all of these studies
publicly available in full.
This has only become possible after a long process
of recontacting the original interviewees seeking
their permission.
-All of this information is going
to be consolidated in a very user-friendly way
on speakingout.msf.org, and it's going
to be a site where you can very easily access information,
download information, find links to a rich range
of different materials that were used to reinforce the case
studies as they were documented.
-The speaking out case studies website
will be online from October 2013 with the latest case
study which reflects on Medecins Sans Frontieres
experience in Somalia from 1991 to 1993.
The previously published case studies
will be added regularly until 10 are
available on the site, which will be linked
to all the public websites of MSF around the globe.
By releasing the record of its dynamism publicly,
the project aims to increase MSF's accountability
and share the knowledge and experience of Medecins Sana
Frontieres speaking out history for the benefit of anyone
interested in learning more about humanitarian action.