Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has filed a serious incident report with the Charity Commission after facing criticism over its publication of “problematic images”.
The charity, also known as Doctors Without Borders, recently apologised for the decision to publish identifiable photographs of a 16-year-old girl who was the victim of rape in Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Its apology came after people took to social media to flag the images, and after a number of activists wrote to the charity in an open letter about the issue.
The Charity Commission has now confirmed that MSF filed a serious incident report due to the criticism it faced but that it is currently satisfied the trustees are dealing with the issue.
“We can confirm that in line with our guidance, Médecins Sans Frontières filed a serious incident report in May 2022 relating to criticism about its use of sensitive photography. We engaged with the charity and are satisfied with the trustees’ handling of this matter,” it said.
MSF said in a statement: “We acknowledge that the publication of these images was a mistake, and we are sorry. We have removed these images and other sensitive photographs from the online article and are taking a series of actions to put better safeguards in place.”
It added: “In the case of the victim in Ituri, she provided consent to the photographer and came forward to share her story, with the support of medical and psychological staff. As an orphan, she had no parent or guardian to support her. We recognise that we should have taken additional steps to protect this survivor's identity, considering her status as a minor.”
MSF reviewing guidelines
In another recent statement, the directors of communications at MSF said the charity had “been rightly challenged” both internally and externally “about the use of sensitive photography involving patients in our care”.
They added: “As the global directors of communication for MSF, we want to thank those who have highlighted problematic images and questioned our practices.”
“We welcome public attention to these important issues, which provides an opportunity for us to improve our policies and practices,” their statement read.
MSF said it is accelerating a full review of the MSF media archive, containing nearly 200,000 visual assets. This project, initiated in late 2021, is scheduled to be completed by December this year.
It has also committed to undertaking a thorough review of content production guidelines and strengthening training and development for MSF content producers.
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