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Last month, First Lady Michelle Obama bestowed one of ten International Women of Courage Awards to Fatimata Touré for her daring work to help women during the brutal occupation of Gao, Mali, in 2012 and 2013. She is head of the Women’s Action, Research, Study, and Training Group (GREFFA) and the leader of the Regional Forum on Reconciliation and Peace in Gao.

On March 7 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2143 on children and armed conflict. The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition makes particular note of paragraphs 16, 17, and 19. These contain language calling for children’s continued access to health care, condemning attacks on health facilities and health workers, and affirming children’s right to access services.

From November 19-21, the Center for Public Health and Human Rights of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health convened 19 experts from the fields of humanitarian practice, human rights, human security, academic research, government, and philanthropy, along with UN representatives and leaders from health professional associations, to address the grave problem of attacks on and interference with health care, particularly in times of armed conflict and internal disturbances.

The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition condemns the abduction of Red Cross and Red Crescent workers in Syria and demands the release of all who are held. Although four of the workers have been released, three others have not. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the individuals were traveling to assess medical facilities in the Idlib and to deliver medical supplies. They were in vehicles clearly marked with the ICRC emblem.

The United Nations Human Rights Council should strengthen documentation and accountability for the growing number of attacks on health workers, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, a group of human rights, health professionals and other nongovernmental groups said today. At a side event of the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, speakers from Turkey, Bahrain, and Pakistan described attacks on healthcare workers for providing care to politically unpopular groups, or because the workers witnessed human rights violations.