Geneva (ICRC) – An incident of
violence against health-care facilities or personnel has taken place every
single week since the passage two years ago of a U.N. Security Council
Resolution meant to increase respect for the sanctity of health care.
Just this week, armed men stormed a
hospital in the Central African Republic where an International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) surgical team operates, threatening patients, medical
staff and Red Cross volunteers. An ambulance was stopped and threatened in the
street.
The U.N. Security Council
resolution passed with overwhelming support, an indication the world believes
that people, especially in areas of conflict, must be able to safely seek
medical care. Sadly, from May 2016 to today, the ICRC has registered in 16
countries alone over 1,200 incidents of violence against health-care facilities
or personnel.
In Afghanistan, for example,
attacks against health workers and the use or destruction of health-care facilities
by arms carriers has cut off thousands if not millions of people from medical
care. The attacks health personnel face include threats, kidnappings, and
killings.
“Attacks against health facilities
and personnel are a double tragedy,” said ICRC President Peter Maurer. “First,
such attacks wound and maim people seeking and providing health care. But they
also deprive an uncountable number of people from receiving aid in the future,
crippling the hopes of recovery for people in desperate need.”
The passage on May 3, 2016 of UNSC
Resolution 2286 was a strong step by the international community to address
violent attacks on health care, but commitments to prevent and mitigate this
violence must be followed by action.
The ICRC urges that these steps
take place in conflict zones:
1) Armed forces refrain from attacking
civilians or civilian infrastructure including health-care facilities,
personnel and vehicles.
2) The lifting of any blockade that
prevents the delivery of necessary medical items and the evacuation of sick and
wounded people.
3) Investigations into incidents of
violence against health care and accountability for attacks that violate
international humanitarian law.
The destruction of health
infrastructure and the disruption of health services have been particularly
disturbing in conflicts in the Middle East. More than half of Syria’s public
hospitals and health-care centres are closed or only partially functioning.
Some of them have been hit by multiple air strikes. The provision of medical
supplies in certain areas of the country as well as the evacuation of the
wounded and sick have been consistently obstructed.
In Iraq, the destruction of
civilian infrastructure in areas affected by the most recent hostilities has
been massive. In Salah al-Din more than a third of health centres are damaged
or destroyed. In Yemen, only 45% of the country’s health infrastructure was
functioning at the end of 2017, and most did not have enough medical supplies.
“Even wars have rules,” Maurer
said. “The wounded and sick must be protected in all circumstances. Violence
that deprives them of access to health care violates international humanitarian
law, and, ultimately, it makes us all a little less human.”
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