MSF files defamation complaint against

British far-right group

Aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) has filed a complaint for defamation against a British far-right group after one of its teams was verbally attacked in northern France last year while returning from an assignment to assist migrants.


Issued on: 05/03/2026 - RFI

Aid group MSF claims their workers were insulted in northern France last year after giving medical care to people who had survived crossing the English Channel in a boat. 

AFP - SAMEER AL-DOUMY


The organisation said the incident happened on 5 December near Grand-Fort-Philippe as staff were returning from a medical outreach mission to people who had survived attempts to cross the English Channel.

MSF said three activists claiming to belong to the British far-right movement Raise The Colours approached the team and shouted insults.

“These individuals approached the MSF team members in a threatening manner, shouting insults and making defamatory and false statements about the organisation,” MSF said.

Video posted online

The confrontation was filmed by the activists and posted on the group’s social media accounts.

“These images sparked numerous hate messages and threats targeting exiles and humanitarian workers,” MSF said. The organisation added it had filed a complaint with a court in Paris.

French authorities have also opened inquiries into the activities of Raise The Colours.

On 23 January, police chiefs in northern France banned a rally organised by the group’s activists. Police said their actions were part of a xenophobic and anti-immigration ideology and posed a risk to public order.

In mid January, British police banned 10 activists from the movement from entering France.

Climate of hostility

Camille Niel, head of MSF’s mission in France, said the incident reflected a wider climate around migration.

“The repetition of these acts is rooted in a climate of impunity fuelled by rhetoric and migration policies that promote stigmatisation, rejection and hatred, to the detriment of the physical and psychological health of exiled people,” Niel said.

MSF was set up in Paris in December 1971 to provide humanitarian medical care.

In 2019, the charity was active in 70 countries with more than 35,000 staff, mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.

Logistics technicians, water and sanitation engineers and administrators also work for the group, which receives most of its funding from private donors.

In January, Israel confirmed it would suspend the licences of 37 international humanitarian organisations, including MSF, that operated in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli authorities accused the groups of failing to provide lists of their employees’ names, which are required for security reasons.

MSF called the demand a “scandalous intrusion”. Israel said the measure was needed to stop jihadists infiltrating humanitarian organisations.