Today we visited the NGO Medecins du Monde's headquarters in Montmarte, Paris. They are similar to the org. Doctors without Borders. Our guest speaker was Francois Rubio, who spoke on roles of NGOs and civil society in the sector of public health and complex emergencies. He was a very intelligent and knew so much about the area of humanitarian action/intervention. He has been in almost complex emergency situation in the past 20 years. What he spoke of was very inspiring for me. I am very interested in the role of international organizations in intervening to aid during times of emergencies. Questioning whether humanitarianism and humanism can still exist and how do we get people to act? What I found most interesting was the area of discussion which was focused on the role of the United Nations and how the politics that surround the organization hinder it from acting properly in many situations. He discussed the current role of organizations and the need for reform. Mentioning how humanitarians are no longer safe in these environments they come into. Just as Sergio Viera de Mello was not safe in Iraq, they are just as much targets. In the end he left us the question of if anyone or any organization can have the ability to be neutral. Hmm....
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