Exploring the Political Agency of Humanitarian NGOs: Médecins Sans Frontières During the European Refugee Crisis

Due to the recent high influx of refugees, migration has become one of the most politicised issues within the European Union (EU). To explore the political agency of humanitarian NGOs, this article analyses the behaviour of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) during the peak of the influx from April 2015 to June 2016. Outrage about the EU’s response to the refugee crisis triggered confrontational and politicised strategies from MSF that aimed to enhance contestation and mobilise public opinion. The proximity of the crisis and the organisation’s independence and decentralised structure facilitated this political agency. Furthermore, neither MSF’s strong commitment to the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence, nor its cooperative ties to national and international political elites, hindered its political actions in this situation. This article therefore refutes the common perspective that humanitarian NGOs are generally cooperative and, ultimately, depoliticising agents in global governance. Under certain conditions, humanitarian NGOs can decide to become highly political and confrontational in opposing national and EU policies.