François Jean ist wissenschaftlicher Leiter bei der Stiftung »Médicins sans Frontières« und Autor mehrerer Werke über internationale Konflikte und die Probleme humanitärer Hilfe. Jean-Christophe Rufin, ehemals Berater im französischen Verteidigungsministeriums, ist heute wissenschaftlicher Leiter am »Institut des relations internationales et stratégiques« (IRIS) und Publizist.
Only fifty years after the Holocaust the world has allowed another genocide to take place - this time in Rwanda. In 1994 governments and the United Nations sat back and did nothing when as many as a million Tutsis and political opponents of the regime were butchered before the very eyes of a token contingent of Blue Helmets.This report shows that the international community "aid only" response to crises will only condemn the world to further suffering. On its own humanitarian assistance is a face-saving excercise. Political action and justice are also needed.Populations in Danger documents the five most serious crises of today : Burundi, Rwanda, Zaire, Haiti and Bosnia. It also includes a humanitarian atlas, compiled by the Paris-based Laboratoire d'etudes politiques et d'analyses cartographiques (LEPAC), which presents a unique visual analysis of today's major humanitarian problems : war, famine, epidemics and population displacement.Medecins Sans Frontieres is the world's largest independent agency for emergency medical aid. Two thousand of its volunteers are currently at work in 70 countries world-wide.