HCiD-Joint-Statement-EN

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A STRONG RESOLVE TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST HEALTH CARE
Open letter
To all United Nations Member States:
We continue to sound the alarm. Scores of health-care workers are being killed or
injured while caring for sick and wounded men, women and children during armed conflicts.
Countless are prevented from carrying out their duties.
We must do more for them and for the civilian populations affected by this
unacceptable situation. It’s a matter of life and death.
Firm action is needed to stop the violence against health-care providers, the bombing
of hospitals and the destruction of ambulances that prevent entire communities from
receiving life-saving services. These acts of violence exacerbate the impact of war on people,
bringing more deaths, more disabilities, higher disease rates and greater physical and mental
suffering. The consequences of these acts will be felt for decades. It is time to reaffirm that
wars have limits.
That is why we, as members of and partners in the Health Care in Danger initiative,
welcome the action taken by the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution on this issue. This
resolution represents a vital opportunity – one that must not be missed.
Today, 3 May 2016, we call on all UN Member States to wholeheartedly support the
measures detailed in UN Security Council Resolution S/RES/2286 (2016) and those produced
under the Health Care in Danger initiative.
We appeal to all UN Member States, in line with the resolution adopted by the
Security Council today, to reaffirm the relevance of international humanitarian law – a sound
body of law which seeks to bring humanity to an inhumane situation. In particular, we urge
all UN Members to adopt specific measures for the protection of health-care delivery that
would ensure greater compliance with international humanitarian law.
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Governments should review and, where necessary, introduce domestic legislation to
prevent violence against patients, health-care personnel and facilities, and medical vehicles.
Health-care staff are present in areas of conflict in order to care for the sick and wounded,
regardless of their affiliations and based solely on need. They must not be punished for
doing their jobs. These dedicated professionals have a key role in upholding the principle of
humanity in war.
It is essential that those attacking or preventing health-care delivery be held
accountable and brought to justice. We urge the adoption of specific measures to achieve
this. For example, criminal, disciplinary or administrative sanctions could be incorporated
into countries’ domestic legislation.
We urge States to ensure that other domestic legislation applying to health-care
personnel, including criminal laws, is consistent with their ethical duties and that it
adequately protects the independence and impartiality of health-care provision.
Another key measure is to revise military rules of engagement and operational practice
and procedures to ensure that recommendations and measures for the protection of health-
care delivery are included and that military personnel are trained accordingly. We urge
States to make this commitment.
The Health Care in Danger initiative is led by the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement and supported by experts and professionals from different
backgrounds, including those working on the front line, governments, the armed forces,
humanitarian agencies, international professional associations and health-care services.
Together we have formulated substantive recommendations and identified practical
measures that, if implemented by all those concerned, would increase the protection of
health-care services in armed conflicts and other emergencies.
We shared with the Security Council members a document outlining the ethical
principles of health-care in times of armed conflict and other emergencies. It was endorsed
last year by six major health-care organizations representing over 30 million professionals
and is aimed at protecting patients and those providing health care.
A key objective of the ethical principles is to ensure that health-care workers are not
coerced into carrying out work that is contrary to the ethical standards of their profession.
Their primary task is to preserve physical and mental health and to alleviate suffering,
without discrimination of any kind. Patients are patients, no matter where they come from
or what side they are fighting on.
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We urge all UN Member States to take the recommendations developed under the
Health Care in Danger initiative, and the ethical principles, into consideration for future
multilateral initiatives.
The Security Council resolution sends an important signal. It recognizes the importance
of international humanitarian law and, in particular, the sanctity of health-care delivery in
times of conflict. Through this resolution, the Council members are demonstrating to the
world that violence against health care is a serious humanitarian problem that needs to be
addressed at the highest level, and that urgent action is needed to reaffirm the Geneva
Conventions, to which all States are party.
We urge all UN Member States to respond to our appeal and to join the Council
members in affirming their strong resolve to end violence against health care. There is and
there must be a place for humanity in time of war.
3 May 2016
Signatory organisations:
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