Privacy Statement (HR)

Artsen zonder Grenzen (Médecins Sans Frontières Netherlands, hereinafter “MSF”) has a legal and ethical duty to protect the personal information you share with MSF. We process your personal data with care and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (the GDPR) and the GDPR Implementation Act (UAVG).

MSF is the data controller under the GDPR and therefore responsible for the lawful collection, use, and sharing (processing) of personal data. We only collect personal data that is strictly necessary to achieve the specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes outlined in this privacy notice.

MSF is registered at Plantage Middenlaan 14, 1018 DD in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

MSF collects your personal data directly from you when you submit a job application, share your data during the recruitment process, sign an employment contract or apply for a training organized by MSF.

Your personal data may also be obtained indirectly when you apply for a position with MSF through an external agency or MSF searches for potential candidates using third-party sources such as LinkedIn or job sites. Additionally, MSF may collect your personal data during the reference check process.

To assess your suitability for the position you have applied for, MSF processes the following personal data:

• Full name
• Contact details: phone number, email address
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Employment history
• Education credentials
• References
• Application documents: cv, motivation letter, assessments
• Other data relevant under specific circumstances or for specific roles: marital status, immigration status, social media presence.

If you are selected as a candidate and accept our job offer, we will request additional information:

• Address details
• Bank details
• Citizen service number (BSN)
• Marital status, family dependents
• Copy of a passport or identity card
• Copy of a visa, when applicable.

When you go to MSF Country Programs and Projects, we request additional information:

• Emergency contacts and details of any dependants
• Information about designated beneficiaries
• Health information related to occupational health
• Writing sample and verification questions and answers.

MSF use your personal data for the following purposes:

• Processing of employment applications at MSF
• Employment management, including handling your employment contract and payroll administration, allowances, benefits, insurance, expenses and managing leaves
• Performance management and career planning
• Supporting your deployment to the Country Programs
• Organisation necessary operational activities such as travel and visa
• Briefings and debriefings for staff working on assignments
• Proposing joining the speakers’ pool of the Communications and Fundraising Department
• Staff well-being, health, security and safety
• Analysing general staff information to understand the workforce and make decisions that help MSF meet its needs
• Learning & development
• Managing network and information security, including access to MSF buildings and use MSF computers and systems
• Fulfilling statutory and regulatory obligations of MSF.

Under the GDPR, a legal basis is the lawful ground that justifies the processing of personal data.

We process your information because:

• It is necessary to draft your employment contract or fulfil the terms of your employment contract
• It is legally required
• We need to protect your health or life (vital interest)
• It is necessary for MSF to run its operations (legitimate interest)
• You gave us permission (consent) in certain situations.

Inside of MSF only authorized staff has access to your personal data necessary to fulfil their duties:

• The Human Resources teams manage most of your personal information.
• Finance and IT teams may also handle your data if they require it to run specific services.
• The International HR Analytics team process MSF data to study general staff trends.
• Your department manager (and sometimes colleagues) can access data if this is strictly needed for them to fulfil their duties (for example, to organize travel, leaves, or reviews).

MSF shares your personal data with other organizations to assist in processing personal data and performing specific activities on our behalf. These organizations are authorized to use the information only for purposes defined by MSF and are obligated to handle your personal data with an adequate level of protection. MSF conducts assessments of third parties and establishes clear agreements to ensure compliance with these requirements.

Your personal data will only be shared with tax authorities, law enforcement agencies (such as the police and judiciary), supervisory bodies (such as the Dutch Data Protection Authority), or immigration services, if we are legally obligated to do so.

Under no circumstances will MSF sell your data.

MSF is a global organization with operational offices located in several countries both within and outside the EU. MSF Netherlands staff is recruited worldwide and our contracting sections exchange personal information with our operational offices. For the purpose of employment in the Country Programs, personal data is shared with our counterparts in the countries where our staff are employed. Measurements are taken to ensure that secure communication lines are in place and personal information is only shared confidentially in third countries for employment purposes.

Some of the personal data we collect may be transferred outside the EU to locations where MSF’s service providers operate. To ensure the security and confidentiality of your data, MSF guarantees that such transfers are either: made to a country deemed adequate by the European Commission, or subject to appropriate safeguards. He safeguards include standard contractual clauses, alongside technical and organizational measures designed to maintain a high level of data security and confidentiality, equivalent to the standards required by the GDPR.

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data and to prevent its loss, misuse, or alteration.

How long does MSF keep this data?

• MSF retains your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and in compliance with legal and statutory obligations.
• Records related to payroll administration and employee records are retained for seven years, in accordance with Dutch law.
• Data related to unsuccessful applicants is retained for twelve months.
• Anonymized data may be retained solely for statistical purposes.

You have the right to:

• Request overview of the personal information we hold about you (right of access)
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information (right to rectification)
• Request deletion of your personal information in specific cases (right to erasure)
• Contest how MSF is using your personal information in certain circumstances (right to object)
• Request that MSF stops or restricts the use of your personal information in specific situations (right to restrict processing)
• Request a transfer of your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format in certain cases (right to data portability).

To exercise these rights, please contact us at our postal address or via vragen@artsenzondergrenzen.nl. MSF responds to such requests within one month of receiving the request.

If you have any complaints or comments regarding the handling of your request or the processing of your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@amsterdam.msf.org.

Complaint to the Data Protection Authority

If you believe you are unable to exercise your rights or wish to report a violation of personal data protection rules, you have the right to file a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, AP) by completing the form available on the AP website.

This privacy notice was last updated in January 2026. If MSF makes significant changes to how your personal information is handled, these changes will be clearly communicated on our websites or you will be contacted directly. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to contact us.