Mr. Speaker, last Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the organization Doctors Without Borders, which has been providing international medical assistance for the past 28 years.
Doctors Without Borders was founded by three young French physicians in 1971, at the time of the Biafra crisis. The founders wanted to assert their independence from traditional medical organizations in order to be able to denounce the atrocities going on before their eyes with all the vigour born of youth.
Since then, Doctors Without Borders has been involved in humanitarian endeavours in an impressive number of conflicts and disasters, in particular the war in Lebanon in 1976, the terrible famine in Ethiopia in 1980, the earthquake in Armenia in 1988, and most recently the war in Kosovo.
As one of the founders said recently “After nearly 30 years of activities, we are not sure that speaking out always saves lives, but we do know that silence kills”.
Our heartiest congratulations to Doctors Without Borders for its contribution to the ideal of peace and the elimination of suffering in the world.