Médecins Sans Frontières International President Christos Christou has told the National Press Club how their calls for sanctions against Israel fit into the organisation’s commitment to neutrality, as expressed in their charter.
He says that MSF’s first basic tenant is “medical action”, calling it their “basic act of solidarity”, but that medical action can “wherever possible, combine bearing witness and advocating about what we see”.
“[MSF becomes the] voices of the people that we are there to support,” Christou says.
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike where displaced people were staying in Rafah.Credit: AP
Jennifer Tierney, the Executive Director for MSF Australia, adds that “the way that we see being able to best save lives in Gaza and Sudan today is for those bombs to stop dropping”.
“To my mind that is not a political act. That is a medical act. That follows the rationale of trying to protect the people that we serve, and so we will use every tool in our toolbox to make sure that we can protect our patients in the best way possible,” Tierney said.
“That includes holding governments to account who are supporting the hurt we are seeing in the places that we work.”
Tierney also confirmed MSF has a meeting with Foreign Minister Penny Wong tomorrow to discuss what they have seen on the ground.
“We also have 85,000 signatures from Australian citizens with a statement of support towards the government which we have shared with numerous government officials around the ceasefire in Gaza.”