Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have been responding to the needs of refugees throughout our 50-year history, but we are now facing an unprecedented global crisis. According to the United Nations refugee agency, there are now 79.5 million forcibly displaced people around the world—more than at any time in modern history. Millions more go uncounted and unprotected.
The global refugee crisis is being made worse by government policies that only add to the suffering. In recent years, MSF teams have witnessed the terrible human costs of US and European policies to turn away vulnerable people looking for protection. We have repeatedly undertaken lifesaving search and rescue operations on the Mediterranean Sea, as governments in the region abandoned their responsibilities and left people to drown. We are providing aid to families in refugee camps that were never meant to become permanent homes—from Kenya’s Dadaab camp to the Kutupalong settlement in Bangladesh.
MSF teams are constantly adapting our approach to provide medical and mental health services to people on the move. We also work with refugee communities to ensure they have a say over their future, and help amplify their stories and their demands.
Join our conversation on Thursday, June 17, as we look ahead to World Refugee Day and the future of the global response to the growing humanitarian emergency. Our panel of experts will include Sergio Martín, head of mission for MSF in Mexico, and Aurélie Ponthieu, coordinator of MSF’s forced migration team based in Brussels. Kavita Menon, editorial director for MSF-USA, will moderate the discussion.
