Joanne Liu, a life as president of Médecins Sans Frontières

The Geneva Press Club and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are pleased to invite you to a conference with :

• Joanne Liu, former president of MSF international and author of “Ebola, bombs and migrants”.
• Stephen Cornish, MSF Executive Director

To participate, please register using the following links:

President of MSF International from 2013 to 2019, Joanne Liu publishes “Ebola, Bombs and Migrants”. This engaging and fascinating book summarizes her tenure as President through the prism of the major crises that marked her tenure.

Joanne Liu’s basic premise is that the world has been living in an age of fear since 9/11, leading people on a quest for security. This quest has eroded our mechanisms of solidarity. Joanne Liu criticizes the slowness of the international response during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, leaving humanitarian actors like MSF on the front line, trying to save lives in a climate of fear, often without adequate logistical and medical support from global institutions.

Joanne Liu denounces the systematic bombing of hospitals in Syria, Yemen and especially Afghanistan, where an MSF hospital was bombed in October 2015. She calls for international awareness of the need to respect humanitarian law, which guarantees the protection of medical structures in conflicts. She describes the horror and helplessness felt in the face of these violations, which jeopardize the neutrality and safety of caregivers and civilians alike.

Finally, the book highlights the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean, where MSF’s rescue operations have rescued thousands of people in danger. Liu criticizes the policy of closing borders and criminalizing NGOs that try to save lives at sea, evoking the moral and ethical dilemmas facing humanitarians. “ Ebola, Bombs and Migrants” is thus a call to recognize our common humanity, according to which every life and every gesture counts.

Joanne Liu is an emergency pediatrician. Since 1996, she has carried out nearly thirty field missions with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). As MSF’s international president (2013-2019), she was a leading voice during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, attacks on hospitals in wartime and the migration crisis.

Moderated by Isabelle Falconnier, Director of the Geneva Press Club, followed by a discussion with the audience and a snack.