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Sunday, Aug 12, 2007
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Asian human rights body’s warning

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) has condemned the “expulsion” of Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) Doctors Without Borders, from Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh as a “counter-productive” measure that can only help the Naxalites.

“The MSF, a Nobel Prize winner, maintains absolute neutrality in providing humanitarian assistance in armed conflict situations. It provides health care services in the areas where the State Government cannot reach out effectively,” a statement issued by director of the centre Suhas Chakma said here on Saturday.

He said the “expulsion” of MSF – winner of the prestigious Indira Gandhi Award for International Understanding by India – is another incident of the Government’s failure to acknowledge that naxalism breeds because of their failure to provide basic services including the health services.

Stating that the “expulsion” of MSF would only accentuate the suffering of the people and increase the support for naxalites, the ACHR has called upon the Centre and the Chhattisgarh Government to revoke the order and invite the organisation to provide humanitarian services.

The MSF was the only humanitarian organisation which withdrew its programme from the refugee camps in Rwanda as the camps housed war criminals. It had consistently adopted a principled and neutral approach, the statement said.

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