The "MSF Speaking Out” podcasts are adapted from the original Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Speaking Out Case Studies (SOCS). Like the case studies, the podcast examines the challenges and dilemmas surrounding speaking out. Each series offers an in-depth look into humanitarian dilemmas in a specific crisis through the narration of extracts from MSF documents and press archives to help establish the facts. Interviews with the main MSF protagonists at the time of the events also provide insight into, and personal analysis of, the positions adopted.
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The MSF Speaking Out Case Studies (SOCS) is a series of case studies that openly examines and analyses MSF’s actions and decision-making processes during humanitarian emergencies that have led it to speak out or not. The SOCS project assists all MSF members, as well as a growing external audience, in understanding how speaking out articulates with humanitarian interventions.
Download all SOCS in English and French on: https://www.msf.org/speakingout/all-case-studies (https://www.msf.org/speakingout/all-case-studies)
#MSF #MédecinsSansFrontières #DoctorsWithoutBorders
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
MSF and the Rohingya 1992 - 2014 - Episode 1: Bangladesh in the 1990s
Episode 1: Bangladesh in the 1990s
In 1991–1992, Myanmar’s military repression forces over 250,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where they settle in refugee camps. In the camps near Cox’s Bazar, MSF observes dire living conditions and violence, while Bangladeshi authorities limit aid and force repatriations. MSF engages in “silent advocacy,” raising concerns only with political stakeholders in order to maintain activities in the camps. This episode highlights enduring dilemmas in MSF’s humanitarian approach with the Rohingya: publicly speaking out versus staying silent to preserve access.
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This podcast series is adapted from the MSF Speaking Out Case Study “MSF and the Rohingya 1992 – 2014”.
It brings to light two decades of MSF advocacy activities as part of its humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya people in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
It examines the challenges that MSF teams in the field and headquarters encountered when deciding whether and how MSF could publicly speak out about the plight of the Rohingya facing persecutions and violence in Myanmar and Bangladesh. During the 1992-2014 period, MSF worked mostly through diplomatic channels “behind closed doors” to advocate about the Rohingya’s plight with foreign diplomats and United Nations agencies. This “silent advocacy” was challenged within MSF by those who felt that the lack of public speaking out meant MSF was abandoning a persecuted population. To maintain an operational presence without speaking out publicly was not seen as an ethically justifiable option for an independent and impartial humanitarian organisation like MSF.
Over 7 episodes, the podcast explores the challenges, dilemmas and internal disagreements underlying MSF’s humanitarian response to assist the Rohingya under the Myanmar authoritarian regime.
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This podcast series is written, produced and mixed by Andrea Rangecroft.
Editorial direction is from Nancy Barrett and Laurence Binet.
The narrator is Claire Lubert.
Extracts are read by Clive Hayward and Lucy Scott
The voiceovers are by Kevin Halliwell, Charles Nove and Alex Vincent.
The music is by Lost Harmonies and Peter Sandberg.
Photo crédits: Generic MSF
A special thanks to Rian Landman
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
25 Nov 2025
MSF and the Rohingya 1992 - 2014 - Episode 2: Years of growth and silence
Episode 2: Years of growth and silence
In Myanmar an increasingly authoritarian regime is taking shape, inhibiting the return of refugees and making the lives of the Rohingya who’ve remained in Rakhine State increasingly difficult. MSF documents systematic persecution but is divided over how to approach the dilemma of access versus speaking out. While from 1994, MSF Holland opts for “silent diplomacy” in order to expand its malaria and HIV/AIDs programmes in Myanmar, MSF France decides to withdraw in 2006, denouncing the authorities lack of transparency.
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This podcast series is adapted from the MSF Speaking Out Case Study “MSF and the Rohingya 1992 – 2014”.
It brings to light two decades of MSF advocacy activities as part of its humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya people in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
It examines the challenges that MSF teams in the field and headquarters encountered when deciding whether and how MSF could publicly speak out about the plight of the Rohingya facing persecutions and violence in Myanmar and Bangladesh. During the 1992-2014 period, MSF worked mostly through diplomatic channels “behind closed doors” to advocate about the Rohingya’s plight with foreign diplomats and United Nations agencies. This “silent advocacy” was challenged within MSF by those who felt that the lack of public speaking out meant MSF was abandoning a persecuted population. To maintain an operational presence without speaking out publicly was not seen as an ethically justifiable option for an independent and impartial humanitarian organisation like MSF.
Over 7 episodes, the podcast explores the challenges, dilemmas and internal disagreements underlying MSF’s humanitarian response to assist the Rohingya under the Myanmar authoritarian regime.
*
*
*
This podcast series is written, produced and mixed by Andrea Rangecroft.
Editorial direction is from Nancy Barrett and Laurence Binet.
The narrator is Claire Lubert.
Extracts are read by Clive Hayward and Lucy Scott
The voiceovers are by Kevin Halliwell, Charles Nove and Alex Vincent.
The music is by Lost Harmonies and Peter Sandberg.
Photo crédits: Carlos Quarenghi
A special thanks to Rian Landman
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
25 Nov 2025
MSF and the Rohingya 1992 - 2014 - Episode 3: A slow opening at MSF
Episode 3: A slow opening at MSF
In 2006, following MSF’s internal reorganisation, MSF Operational Centre Amsterdam (OCA) refocuses advocacy on the Rohingya marking a shift in its approach to testimony. To bypass Myanmar’s restrictions, strengthened through violent crackdowns on protesters after 2007’s Saffron Revolution, most of the speaking out concerns the fate of unregistered refugees in Bangladesh. Nonetheless, in Myanmar, MSF OCA speaks out on the humanitarian consequences of state-sponsored discrimination, repression, and lack of access to healthcare for both the Rohingya and people living with AIDS.
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*
*
This podcast series is adapted from the MSF Speaking Out Case Study “MSF and the Rohingya 1992 – 2014”.
It brings to light two decades of MSF advocacy activities as part of its humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya people in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
It examines the challenges that MSF teams in the field and headquarters encountered when deciding whether and how MSF could publicly speak out about the plight of the Rohingya facing persecutions and violence in Myanmar and Bangladesh. During the 1992-2014 period, MSF worked mostly through diplomatic channels “behind closed doors” to advocate about the Rohingya’s plight with foreign diplomats and United Nations agencies. This “silent advocacy” was challenged within MSF by those who felt that the lack of public speaking out meant MSF was abandoning a persecuted population. To maintain an operational presence without speaking out publicly was not seen as an ethically justifiable option for an independent and impartial humanitarian organisation like MSF.
Over 7 episodes, the podcast explores the challenges, dilemmas and internal disagreements underlying MSF’s humanitarian response to assist the Rohingya under the Myanmar authoritarian regime.
*
*
*
This podcast series is written, produced and mixed by Andrea Rangecroft.
Editorial direction is from Nancy Barrett and Laurence Binet.
The narrator is Claire Lubert.
Extracts are read by Clive Hayward and Lucy Scott
The voiceovers are by Kevin Halliwell, Charles Nove and Alex Vincent.
The music is by Lost Harmonies and Peter Sandberg.
Photo crédits: Giulio Di Sturco
A special thanks to Rian Landman
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
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