Attacks on Healthcare Staff, Patients, and Facilities in Conflict Zones Rise Despite International Humanitarian Law Protections

Strategic Insights -

The British Medical Association (BMA) has released a comprehensive report documenting the rise in attacks on healthcare staff, patients, and facilities in conflict zones, despite their protection under international humanitarian law (IHL). The report highlights examples from Syria, Sudan, Ukraine, and Gaza, and explores the impact of these attacks on healthcare workers' ability to care for patients and population health. The BMA makes recommendations for governments, the UN, the International Criminal Court, NGOs, and healthcare providers to protect healthcare in conflict zones and condemn attacks on healthcare.

Key Takeaways:

  • The BMA report documents a rise in attacks on healthcare staff, patients, and facilities in conflict zones, including Syria, Sudan, Ukraine, and Gaza, despite their protection under international humanitarian law (IHL).
  • The report highlights the impact of these attacks on healthcare workers' ability to care for patients and population health, including the erasure of critical testimonies and evidence necessary for accountability, justice, and long-term reconciliation.
  • The BMA makes recommendations for governments, the UN, the International Criminal Court, NGOs, and healthcare providers to protect healthcare in conflict zones and condemn attacks on healthcare, including:

+ Governments should reinvest political and financial capital into compliance with IHL and hold other nation states accountable when medical units protected under IHL are attacked.

+ The UN should refer allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity involving attacks on the wounded and sick, health facilities, and health workers to the ICC where the court has jurisdiction.

+ NGOs and health providers should collate and share data and information regarding attacks on healthcare in conflict zones.

+ The World Medical Association (WMA) should proactively engage with state actors implicated in health-related human rights abuses and use its voice to raise awareness of such abuses.

  • Dr. Andrew Green, BMA medical ethics committee chair, emphasizes that protecting healthcare staff, patients, and facilities is a legal and moral imperative, and that the BMA's recommendations are aimed at addressing the root causes of these attacks and ensuring medical neutrality and the protection of civilians.

Statistics:

  • The BMA report documents examples of attacks on healthcare staff, patients, and facilities in conflict zones, including:

+ Syria: Doctors killed, patients murdered in their beds, medical transport targeted

+ Sudan: Patients murdered in their beds

+ Ukraine: Medical transport targeted, humanitarian aid blocked

+ Gaza: Systematic blocking of aid entry

  • The report highlights the impact of these attacks on healthcare workers' ability to care for patients and population health, including:

+ Healthcare workers killed or injured

+ Facilities and equipment damaged or destroyed

+ Patients denied access to medical care

  • The BMA report recommends that governments, the UN, the International Criminal Court, NGOs, and healthcare providers take action to protect healthcare in conflict zones, including:

+ Holding states and armed groups accountable for attacks on healthcare

+ Providing humanitarian aid and support to affected populations

+ Educating armed forces on IHL protections for healthcare

Sources:

  • British Medical Association (BMA)
  • "Medicine Under Attack: The Increasing Assault on Healthcare in Conflict Zones" report (https://www.bma.org.uk/what-we-do/working-internationally/our-international-work/medicine-under-attack-the-increasing-assault-on-healthcare-in-conflict-zones)
  • Blog by BMA president Dr John Chisholm (https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/healthcare-under-attack)