Gracing the front page of many newspapers the past couple years have been countless headlines regarding the growing influx of refugees and migrants into Western Europe, and how unprepared and unwilling receiving countries have been to help them. These movements have strained European pockets and politics, with many there quite hostile towards the refugees, viewing them as a threat to their identity, culture, and wealth. Many non-governmental organizations have stepped in to shoulder some of the burden and improve the conditions of refugees and migrants struggling to make it into Europe.
Perhaps the most visible and impactful of these groups is Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a medical humanitarianism organization dedicated to offering free and expert emergency medical aid to people affected by political crisis, natural disaster, local conflict, or other types of mass emergency. Committed to group values of independence, impartiality, and medical ethics, and their concept of témoignage, or the politics of “witnessing,” MSF has long been both a voice for and a helping hand to populations in crisis. Because of this, my research question will focus on the long-standing and incredibly well-respected NGO. In the growing and increasingly complex migration crisis occurring in Europe, how have MSF operations and témoignage (“bearing witness,” or advocacy) adapted to the rapidly-changing migrant landscape? How have they impacted public health and migration in both practice and policy, for refugee populations as well as on a larger scale transnationally within the European continent?
