Bernard Kouchner, born on November 1 1939 in Avignon is a French politician and a doctor. He is co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (Doctors Without Borders) and of Médecins du Monde .

His political career began as a member of the French Communist Party and he was excluded from the party in 1966. He worked as a medic for the Red Cross (Croix Rouge ) in Biafra in 1968. He founded Médecins Sans Frontières in 1971, then Médecins du Monde in 1980 due to a conflict of opinion with Claude Malhuret director of MSF.

He has been in favor for a long time of the concept of humanitary ingerence (ingérence humanitaire ) in the international institutions. In early 2003, he pronounced himself in favour of the intervention in Iraq, as ingerence against dictatorship should be global, he continued to say that now the focus should be on the actual people themselves, and that they are the only ones that can say yes or no to war.

Political resume

• Advisor to State Secretary from 1988 to 1992
• Health Minister in 1992-1993
• european deputy (député européen) from 1994 to 1997,
• State Secretary for Health from 1997 to 1999
• Representing Administrator (administrateur-représentant) of the United Nations United Nations in Kosovo from 1999 to 2001.
• Health-Delegated Minister from 2001 to 2002