Protection and Security

Médecins Sans Frontières takes all necessary measures to protect its beneficiaries and employees.

With population displacements, an understanding of the geopolitical context and a “mapping” of the various belligerents and their relationship to the displaced population are important indicators for setting up activities.


The most at-risk groups – like children, women who are single, pregnant or nursing, and the elderly – require special attention.

A refugee camp or IDP site is a microcosm of society in which power relationships are exacerbated.
Psychological pressure and economic blackmail have even greater impact in situations of extreme destitution and dependence on aid.
Armed groups may divert food aid for their own purposes, and camps may be used as a reservoir for fighters or a place to rest. There can be pressures of all kinds on an ethnic or population group. Assistance and protection are thus inseparable.


In principle, camps should be set up more than 50 km from borders or conflict zones.
Though MSF is rarely in charge of camp security, its medical activities enable it to assess the nature and extent of any violence experienced by the population.
What deadly threats, other than biological, do they face?
What are their needs, in terms of protection?
By listening to patients, we get access to the realities of life in the camp.

Community health workers provide information not just about lack of access to water, food and firewood, but also about night-time violence, forced recruitment and other pressures that can be reported to camp authorities.

Thanks to its ability to bear witness, MSF can publicly denounce sanctuarisation, misappropriation of aid and human rights violations, should the situation fail to improve.


Depending on the context, we might institute a programme for victims of sexual violence offering medical treatment and a certificate that can be used in criminal court. Mental health activities or distributions of food or equipment to the highest-risk groups might also be set up.

By considering the power and violence issues that accompany displaced populations, MSF is able to adapt its operational strategies, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of its aid.