UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 76 of 98

UPSC Prelims 2016 question on Doctors Without Borders

‘Doctors Without Borders’ (Médecins Sans Frontières), often in the news, is

  1. a division of World Health Organization
  2. a non-governmental international organization
  3. an inter-governmental agency sponsored by European Union
  4. a specialized agency of the United Nations
Show answer

Answer: B. a non-governmental international organization

Verdict

The answer is a non-governmental international organization. Medecins Sans Frontieres is an international NGO.

Analysis

Doctors Without Borders is an independent international non governmental organisation providing medical humanitarian assistance in conflict zones, epidemics and disasters, and its independence from governments is central to its identity and its ability to operate on both sides of a conflict. In this period it warned that India would cease to be the pharmacy of the developing world if certain intellectual property proposals in the RCEP negotiations were adopted. It is not a division of the World Health Organization, nor an agency of the European Union, nor a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Source

The Hindu report on Medecins Sans Frontieres and India's role in the RCEP negotiations.

How to crack it

Two questions identify any organisation: who are its members and who funds it. A body funded largely by private donors and staffed by volunteers is non governmental by construction, and its willingness to criticise governments confirms it, since a United Nations agency could not campaign against member states this way. The behaviour reported in the news is itself evidence about the institutional type.

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