Ukraine Syria: the humanitarian doctor facing the Russian war machine
Speaker
- Raphaël Pitti, French anesthesiologist-resuscitator, specialist in war medicine and head of training for the NGO Mehad (Union des Organisations de Secours et Soins Médicaux)
The event will be moderated by
- Denis Lakine, CREE doctoral student, Inalco
Presentation of the scientific event
Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine has entered its third year, plunging the country into a conflict of unprecedented violence in which civilian populations are the first victims. Although more than 12,000 people have already died - not counting the countless acts of violence and crime that have marked this war, such as the massacres at Boutcha and the bombing of the Okhmatdyt paediatric hospital - this tragedy does not represent a break with the past. On the contrary, it is part of a continuum of violence systematized by Russia since the Chechen wars. Massive destruction of civilian infrastructures, indiscriminate bombing, the use of siege and terror as instruments of domination: in this torrent of suffering, humanitarian actors are trying to provide essential relief, but at what price? Faced with a war that tolerates neither neutrality nor interference, how do they manage to make their way to the battered populations?
A long-standing emergency physician and humanitarian, Professor Raphaël Pitti has been involved for years in the most trying theaters of war. Founder of the NGO HuSoMe in 2018, he has worked in close proximity to the victims in Syria and Ukraine, not only assisting the wounded, but also structuring training and medical aid schemes to perpetuate humanitarian action in disaster zones. A first-hand witness to the ravages of the Russian war machine, he sheds a rare light on the brutality of the conflict and the challenges facing those trying to remedy it.
At the invitation of Inalco and CREE, Professor Pitti will bring his eyewitness account of events and deliver a lucid, committed analysis of the realities on the ground, between humanitarian imperatives, political pressure and constant peril.
Organization
- Denis Lakine (CREE, Inalco)