Thanks to our very own PCJ society, on Monday I was able to attend an excellent talk by Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders. Open to the public the talk featured members of Toronto’s MSF team as well as Laurence Binet. Laurence Binet is a journalist as well as long time collaborator with MSF. This event was a gateway into better understanding the organization itself and the audience was given an opportunity to ask the MSF team any questions they had.

As a PCJ student I am always looking to speak with and see firsthand the experiences of people who actually work for organizations like MSF. Not to mention it’s cool to know that Dr. James Orbinski was president of the International Council of MSF in 1999 and is now an associate professor of medicine at U of T as well as a fellow at Munk. How incredible is that?

Now of course as we learn in our courses NGOS, humanitarian aid and the like are all very complex topics that require a fair amount of study but I will keep to the bigger implications of the talk (because you have to get back to that one reading you’re avoiding).

Laurence Binet did a really great job of debunking misconceptions of what MSF was actually created to do and pointing out challenges on the field. First and foremost their purpose is to provide medical attention to people who are suffering. It is their job to treat patients (anyone that needs their medical attention) as medical professionals and they try to stay neutral in any country they enter. Ms. Binet was clear by pointing out that MSF was not created for the purpose of human rights advocacy but often in the field they do speak out when they are denied access to their patients in any way. This speaking out can make MSF seem like they have a political agenda and this is never good when trying to work without borders. This creates a major challenge for the organization because if they speak out it can mean losing neutrality, if they don’t speak out it can mean losing patients.

Another important thing that I learned from Ms.Binet was the idea of case by case action. As a PCJ student I feel like I am always searching for solutions, some sort of structure or formula to follow that will lead to sustained solutions. However, Ms. Binet pointed out something so obvious but often so overlooked: there is no such thing as an epic formula of healing that can be placed on countries that have gone through a natural disaster, war or other devastating atrocities. There is no such thing as a cookie cutter solution, when you are out in the field you have to be creative and dynamic; therefore, solutions will vary case by case. When we write essays and study theory we often forget that real life situations are enormously more complex then we can understand in classrooms. These are things to think about when you are contemplating field work; as PCJ students we must remember to recognize the complexities of humanitarian intervention. My take away point was to start to think about our topics of study on even more practical terms and try and understand the types of skills I will need out in the field.

I encourage PCJ students to attend future PCJ society events because they really help you connect what you learn in our courses with real life situations. As undergraduates we need to expose ourselves to every opportunity we get to hear from people who have been in the thick of things because this will help us in our futures. We are all in a constant state of learning, so take some time out from your busy weeks (as hard as it is) and get to these events. Let’s use these chances to speak with actual human beings who have so much experience and therefore knowledge to share with us!

Also if you have completed PCJ260 don’t forget to check out the MSF internships offered exclusively to PCJ students and apply! https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/trudeaucentre/awards-opportunities/

To end things off I would encourage students to take ask yourselves the following questions. What are your thoughts on neutral organizations speaking out against groups as means of access to those who need aid? How can groups like MSF speak out against injustice but at the same time avoid being manipulated by governments or media that have their own political agendas? Is neutrality a necessary part of aid work?