“When so-called surgical strikes end up hitting surgical wards, something is deeply wrong” - Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, May 2016
Last week saw the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva and the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. Both events presented important opportunities to bring attention to the increasingly frequent and devastating attacks on medical facilities around the world.
In Geneva the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a report demonstrating that, over the two-year period from January 2014 to December 2015, there were 594 reported attacks on health care that resulted in 959 deaths and 1561 injuries across 19 countries. Of particular concern to MAP was that the location with the second highest number of attacks on healthcare was Palestine, with 10% of these incidents occurring in Palestine and 38% in Syria, many in the Palestinian camps.
During the 2014 attacks on Gaza we worked to highlight attacks on healthcare facilities and medical personnel. In that time, we met with many organisations who were seeking to address this worrying erosion of international protection. Through our engagement and research on this issue it has become apparent to us that there is a clear trend of increasing attacks on healthcare, and very little political will to put in place proper safeguards to prevent these attacks, or hold people accountable for those that occur.
At the 32nd International Conference of the ICRC, held in Geneva last December, 169 Governments, 185 national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and more than 100 observers came together to find a common vision for humanitarian action. Yet Governments rejected a resolution that would have established a mechanism to document and discuss violations of international humanitarian law. A similar initiative had very little traction again at the World Humanitarian Summit last week.
At a United Nations Security Council meeting on this issue on 3rd May, a resolution was unanimously passed calling for greater protection of healthcare personnel and facilities. However Joanne Liu, International President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), remarked to the body that “you are charged with protecting peace and security. Yet four of the five permanent members of this council have, to varying degrees, been associated with coalitions responsible for attacks on health structures over the last year.”
Of all the research undertaken by the WHO for its recent report, one of the most striking findings was that 62% of the attacks on medical facilities and personnel were reported as intentional. Until states acknowledge the crucial importance of safe, accessible and sustainable healthcare through the protection of medical personnel and facilities we will inevitably see the number and gravity of incidents continue to rise.
At MAP we continue to campaign for accountability for the attacks documented in our June 2015 report and our projects are helping people living with war injuries access limb reconstruction operations, rehabilitation and therapeutic support, amongst other help. This work is vitally important in helping people affected by war to recover, but it must be backed up by a shared international determination to ensure that civilians and civilian spaces are not targets.
At this stage we do not need more statements of condemnation for attacks, or resolutions stating that more must be done. The indisputable protected status of medical facilities and personnel is backed up by the strength and clarity of the Geneva Conventions and the entire body of international law. What we need now is action from Governments to ensure that they themselves are not breaching these laws.