Javid Abdelmoneim It has been contributing its grain of sand to make this world a better place. In 2009 he decided to become part of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and as an Emergency doctor he has been present in the most bloody wars and conflicts that ravage the planet, from Haiti, to Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Ukraine or Gaza. Born in Cambridge (United Kingdom) in 1979 in a Sudanese-Irani family, Abdelmoneim has combined his medical work with scientific dissemination for programs and documentaries of Al Jazeera, BBC or Channel 4. On September 5 he assumed the position of MSF International President After being elected by the General Assembly of the Organization for a three -year period. He is now touring the different MSF delegations in the world and attends El Periódico in his visit to the headquarters of Barcelona.
What are your priorities?
It is a very difficult question to answer because the world we live in is increasingly complex, complicated and difficult. And MSF must focus on their objectives: populations and people in a situation of suffering. That is my priority. We need to reaffirm, stay firm, raise our voice about how important our humanity and shared dignity is, but also the important thing is that the humanitarian work and the space in which it is done is respected. Your enemy’s doctor is not your enemy. Civilians and their protection are important. Access without obstacles to humanitarian aid is important. And we see that, wherever we go, it becomes much more difficult, complex, violent and obstructive. This tendency to get away from humanity, collective dignity and solidarity is something very worrying for us.
“It is important that the humanitarian work and the space in which your enemy is respected is respected.”
Last year he spent 5 months in Gaza and could witness the horrors of war. How would you explain to our readers what you lived?
I think it is very important to make it clear that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. It is not a conflict or any war. I saw things I had not seen before. There was no security. People could not move to get safe. You could see war ships, helicopters, drones, see explosions and feel them through stores. They made the windows vibrate and the doors closed suddenly through the expansive wave. This was something new to me, it was a different level of violence, both for violence against civilians and for the proximity to that violence. In addition, Israel controls and obstructs our work: staff entry, supplies, materials, food. And although sometimes the work was a distraction, even a comfort, there were days when you really felt it was the end. Never before or after I have had that feeling.
Javid Abdelmoneim, at a time of the interview with El Periódico. / Jordi Cotrina
One of the arguments used by the Israel government to attack hospitals in the strip is that members of Hamas hide in them. What responds to this?
While I was there, nowhere was not allowed to enter armed people to hospitals, health centers and clinics in which I worked. Armed people have the entry strictly prohibited, and medical directors know it. It is MSF’s strict protocol worldwide. If we are there, there are no armed people, and if any, you leave. Final point. It is a golden rule. Either in the gang area of Haiti or in Gaza.
“Israel controls and obstructs our work: staff entry, supplies, materials, food”
During his stay in Gaza he was able to verify firsthand what was the mood of Gazatí health personnel. What did they tell him?
I thought about dealing with my employees, but it is potentially traumatic, and they were noticed in the face that if they began to speak they would collapse. They simply said: “Let’s get up, let’s go to work and concentrate on healing that person in front of us. And tomorrow it will be another day if I’m alive and I’ll work again.” Some of my employees only had two sets of clothing, which could be carried when they left their homes to go to a tent. At night they suffered the bombings around them and they had been trembling because that explosion could have ended their life, but the next day they returned to work.
Did you see any way out of the horror that their lives is today?
There was hope of an end, hope of peace, they just want to live. They do not drag hatred or anger, I did not feel it in any of the discussions. They just want to live.
And about the current Israeli offensive against Ciudad de Gaza, what are their teams on the ground?
It is an extremely difficult situation. There are still many people, many families, people who do not want or cannot leave. And insecurity is very high. Our teams have been almost impossible [horas después de esta entrevista MSF anunció que suspendía sus actividades en Ciudad de Gaza por los constantes bombardeos israelíes]. The colleagues with whom I worked in the center and the south, in Khan Yunis, in Al Mawasi, many of them were displaced from Gaza City and clung to the hope of being able to return home. But with what they know is happening now, that hope is fading and is having a deep impact. And among the international teams, which are rotating, an increasing number of staff says: “I want to leave here. I can’t stay anymore. We can’t rebuild. Remove me!”
The civil war in Sudan is another of the great current conflicts, but on which media attention is not implemented. You are of Sudanese origin and was there at the beginning of the year. What is the situation?
It is serious. It is the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet if we objectively analyze the figures, the amount of areas in famine, the number of displaced and attacks on medical care. Violence against civil population by both parties in conflict is extraordinary. The levels of sexual violence, ethnic violence and blockages are incredible. In addition, cholera has hit hard this year, especially in summer.
“The civil war in Sudan is the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet”
And why do you think the world does not look at Sudan?
Many news, at least in Europe, when war began about the evacuation of international citizens. And then Gaza arrived and the Sudan conflict disappeared completely. It could be argued that one reason is that it is not geopolitally strategic for Russia, the US or China. Although regionally it is. Is it simply another ‘African civil war’? I do not know what does not seem to capture people’s attention. In part it is because there are fewer actors shouting for the cuts in development and for how difficult it is to work there. It is very difficult to get visas, supplies and permits for mutual blockages between both sides. But I urge the world and humanitarian organizations to try. The needs are catastrophic.
Javid Abdelmoneim, in front of a poster with the principles of MSF: proximity, empathy and humanity. / Jordi Cotrina
What other conflicts should we pay more attention?
The level of violence in Haiti is extremely worrying. The level of chronic violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly in the northeast, is worrying. Like the Rohinyás crisis, which is not strictly a war but they do suffer a lot of violence. And we can’t forget the Sahel. The inhabitable extension of Sahara is increasing due to climate change, which has exerted pressure on the population and water resources, but has also generated chronic instability, chronic unemployment and lack of economic growth, opening doors to extremism. I think these are chronically ignored contexts. And what is characteristic of all these places is that it is difficult to work there. It is violent, it is dangerous, it is complex.
The lack of solid government structures in these countries should not help.
Exactly. There are armed groups, militias, gangs, insurgences and weak governance. It is really difficult to enter these places and generate trust. The government on duty cannot guarantee entry or does not want to do it. Sometimes, even we, as MSF, are a goal. We are often the only organization on the ground. And the needs of the population are complex. It is not just mental or physical health.
“We observe a general departure from global solidarity or the recognition of human dignity and that humanitarianism is almost criminalizing,”
Trump came to power eight months ago and one of his first decisions was to close Usaid, the Agency for International Development. What has been the impact on MSF?
MSF does not receive government financing in any way anywhere in the world. Our donors are the communities. So, in that sense, we are fine, but in many really important ways we are not right at all. And that is because we work in a health ecosystem and now all other actors, who were responsible for water, food, mental health or childhood care, have gone because they no longer have government financing. This has direct consequences in aspects such as disease control. The preventive vaccination system for populations is suffering from these cuts, so that in MSF we will have to attend more outbreaks and change our structures in certain countries. In addition, we observe a general departure from global solidarity or the recognition of human dignity and that humanitarianism is almost criminalizing.
This week, in the United Nations General Assembly, we have been able to witness the dissonances of this world in crisis.
It is an extremely dangerous moment. From the personal point of view, I see that the alleged powerful nations that have defended international law and order, as well as international courts, have hypocritically abandoned them in favor of Israel. And I think many people see it too. Speaking as MSF spokesman, I consider that if international humanitarian law and human rights do not apply universally to all, they mean meaning. And we need international humanitarian law and human rights to continue to have meaning, because that is the field in which we work. You cannot choose who the law is applied.
“The most dangerous of this moment and what makes it different is that it seems that those who defended the most international humanitarian law and human rights are precisely the same ones that are now abandoning them”
But it seems that the world is going in that direction.
Yes, that’s why we want to reaffirm what is really important. We work from the base that every human being has dignity and needs to be protected. If we all remember that, we will be fine. Because it is pure, it is the essence. It is really powerful, and a part of me, when I feel good, he says that we do not need frames or laws, that we can appeal and remind all of that humanity. How naive. That is why I also say that the law exists for a reason and is important. The most dangerous of this moment and what makes it different is that it seems that those who defended that law are precisely the same ones that are now abandoning it. I also recognize that historically there has been an unequal application of that law. In many parts of the world it has been seen as a control tool, of imposition of the western order, neo -imperialism. But this branch of humanitarian law and human rights is essential and fundamental. Because we are human.
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