Resolution

Security Council Can Do More to Protect Health Care in Conflict

Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Coalition Chair Leonard Rubenstein recommends the UN Security Council take three immediate actions to protect health workers and services and implement its resolution from May 2016. The Council will hold a briefing on the resolution on September 28. After the recent, horrific attacks in Syria, the credibility of the Council is at stake.

The UN Security Council Should Take Immediate Action to Protect Health Workers and Health Care in Conflict Around the World

Thursday, September 22, 2016
The coalition urges the United Nations Security Council in its upcoming briefing to take three immediate steps to implement Resolution 2286 and protect health workers and services in conflict.

The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition Welcomes Passage of UN Resolution Condemning Attacks on Health

Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition welcomes a new resolution by the UN Security Council condemning attacks on health workers and facilities. The value of the resolution will be determined by whether states adhere to international norms, develop strategies to prevent attacks, and bring perpetrators of attacks to justice.

Strengthening International Commitment to Protect Doctors, Health Workers, and Hospitals Overseas

Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Last December, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution affirming protection from violence for medical personnel, patients, and health facilities. The resolution reveals the extraordinary challenges of providing care in conflict zones. The Reporter talked with Widney Brown, director of programs at Physicians for Human Rights, about the problem of violence against health workers and the importance of committing to medical neutrality.

Safeguarding Health: A Global Health and Humanitarian Priority

Wednesday, January 21, 2015
In late December, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for actions by States to protect health workers from violence and to assure patients access to health care in situations of conflict or insecurity. This resolution has the potential to be a milestone in the protection of health workers and patients throughout the world. It recognizes the protection of health care as a human right everywhere, at all times, and that States must be proactive in realizing it.

WMA Welcomes Strongest Statement Yet on Violence against Health

Sunday, December 21, 2014
Commenting on the recent United Nations General Assembly resolution urging governments to act to ensure the safety of health workers, the World Medical Association President Dr. Xavier Deau welcomed the new UN Resolution on “Global health and foreign policy”. ‘I welcome the fact that we are ending the year with the strongest statement yet from the UN on the issue of attacks on health workers’, he said. ‘The past year has seen yet more deaths and injuries among health workers whose only job has been to care for patients in often extremely difficult circumstances’.

Dispatches: Taking Care of the Caregivers

Wednesday, December 17, 2014
In early December, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on “global health and foreign policy.” As the title suggests, it was a bit of a grab bag, covering issues such as vaccines, strengthening health systems, and Ebola. But the resolution also included the General Assembly’s strongest statement yet on the issue of attacks on health workers, facilities, and patients, and called on governments to act to ensure health workers and patients are safe and facilities protected from attack.

Medical Workers in Conflict Zones Have Never Faced Greater Risks

Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Although health care workers have been caught in the crossfire for decades, they're now being directly targeted. And threats are at an all-time high. Since 2012, there have been 2,300 incidents of violence or threats of violence reported to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), though the IFRC suspects that many more go unreported. This week, the United Nations passed a resolution that recognizes this danger and strengthens existing international laws that protect health care workers in conflict zones.

Landmark United Nations General Assembly Resolution Calls for the Protection of Health Workers from Violence

Monday, December 15, 2014
A resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly recognizes for the first time the severity of attacks on health workers, facilities, and patients in all circumstances, and demands respect by States for provisions of medical ethics and human rights law, as well as international humanitarian law, said the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition. The resolution, with 62 co-sponsors, urges States to take immediate steps to ensure health workers in all countries are protected from violence, whether in armed conflict or in times of peace.

Attacks on Health Workers Violate Everyone's Human Rights

Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Attacks on health workers, facilities, and patients violate the Geneva Conventions and international human rights law. How can we protect the human rights of those who give impartial care, and of those who desperately need it? Last month I joined a gathering of the diplomatic, global health, and humanitarian communities to discuss United Nations leadership for protecting access to health care. The UN Global Health and Foreign Policy Group is proposing a resolution to the UN General Assembly focused on ensuring the safety of health workers in conflict and emergency situations.

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