23 January 2006
Médcins Sans Frontières (MSF) is one of those international organisations for which I have a great deal of time. The founders and early enthusiasts include a friend of mine Dr Alain Destexhe who is now in the Belgian Senate. A constituent of mine worked in its Brussels office for many years so between those two I have frequently got useful information on health and medical issues in many of the most troubled areas of the world.
The downbeat tone of one of MSF's most recent press releases made me depressed. The press release was entitled "Beyond the Headlines-Top Ten Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories for 2005" and it related the difficulty in holding the world's attention to humanitarian disasters without their "promotion" by the media. As was pointed out, media coverage won't solve crises but it can have a positive effect, for example in mobilising relief efforts.
The power of the media was truly shown by the coverage of the tsunami on St. Stephen's Day 2004. As I was hacking at the carcass of the turkey to make a ghastly curry or even worse fricassée, the kitchen chairs, the table, even the fridge were washed away by a wave which swept out of the television set in the corner of the kitchen and took them and me with it. When I'd got back on my feet a few days later there were English-speaking people weeping, searching for children, lovers, mothers, wives in exactly the same way as my neighbours and I would so I knew it had happened just down the road.
The incredible outpouring of money from all over the world for this disaster was because the media, especially television, made us part of it. We were there!
But looking back at the top ten most underreported stories of 2005 in the MSF press release-why we've hardly had a peep at any of them, not to mind been involved.
Chechnya-this gruesome war has gone on for over a decade, the war is between the forces of the Russian Federation (who dread going there) and Chechen armed groups. Both sides and, particularly, Chechen civilians, have suffered grievous casualties. Recently I heard a Russian soldier interviewed who had served there explaining how soldiers are taught how to slit the throats of the insurgents and other useful skills. He said that while he had served his term of duty there and was safely home, he was totally changed by the experience. Any shots of Chechnya are of snow, mud, and destroyed buildings. It is profoundly dangerous for anyone to go there so we are short on information on the progress of the war frequently. Years ago I was in Rostov-on-Don and a senior army officer was being tried for raping and murdering a Chechen girl aged sixteen. Most of the people I met felt it was a disgrace he was being tried and the trial was postponed due to his "ill health". I've no idea what the outcome of his case was but I found the local attitude to the rape and murder of a child very depressing. MSF points out that not only are civilians killed and maimed but diseases like TB and pneumonia flourish in conditions there.
Haiti-let's go to somewhere warm. Everyone in Ireland appears to be buying property abroad-but not in Haiti. Some people may have delightful holidays in the West Indies-but not in Haiti. Even aerial photographs of the island of Hispaniola are dreadful. The Dominican Republic has trees, bushes and fields but the Haitian part of the island appears like a desert. I'm never really sure what the U.S. felt about President Aristide, enthusiasm for him appeared to wax and wane, but since he was forced into exile, even with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers, the situation seems chaotic. MSF reports ferocious civilian casualties from gunshot wounds during faction fights. At one MSF centre in a typical day there were 27 gunshot victims, three quarters women and children. Ali Besnaci, head of mission in Haiti, says civilians tell him they have never experienced such levels of violence before. On 7 January 2006, Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar, head of the UN forces, shot himself dead on his hotel balcony. Why would anyone, even journalists, want to go there? It all sounds alarming, dangerous and hopeless.
My disappointment with recent events following the elections in Ethiopia has made me ready for almost anything about Africa, but the MSF sections on the Ivory Coast, the Congo, Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan and Somalia makes life in Ethiopia seem tranquil, unless one is an elected member of the opposition or one of their supporters. Years ago, at the Cairo Conference, the delegates from Côte d'Ivoire were some of the best educated and most progressive from Africa. But a decade of civil war has reduced the lives of ordinary citizens to misery with little health care and even food available. To quote from the MSF report "Malaria is a huge threat throughout the country and MSF has treated more than 70,000 cases in 2005. Family separations and the influx of soldiers have left many women and young girls vulnerable to sexual violence, prostitution, unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases."
When did we last hear about Côte d'Ivoire? Or Southern Sudan where the war is officially over? I had thought we could concentrate on the people in those brightly coloured clothes in Darfur if we were thinking of Sudan. But people - children I suppose mainly - are dying of measles for heaven's sake in Southern Sudan. But they could be vaccinated against that! And TB - the bacillus pops up its ugly head again. The infrastructure the report says is "in ruins". Is this another country where the presence of oil is like the curse of Midas?
I don't know how much public health structure Somalia had in the past but it certainly has none now. And didn't I hear somewhere the Somalian government can't meet in Mogadishu and must stick around in foreign parts, the whole country is so dangerous? As for the Congo, if you haven't read King Leopold's Ghost, get it and it will at least make the madness that is going on there now seem a little more understandable.
The MSF report talks about the Northeastern India conflict in Assam and Manipur over the last five years and the heavy toll of fighting on civilians. What on earth are they talking about - haven't we been told India is one giant call centre and they are going to take all our jobs in information technology? The Taoiseach was there just a few weeks ago and I didn't hear war mentioned.
Dealing with the war in Iraq is enough. I'll have to file this press release under "Conflicts in Progress" - or are they stationary? And, will they be the same in another decade? Most people will probably feel the less we hear about such wars the better but MSF is right to point to their grim and tortured existence.
Senator Mary Henry, MD
