News, blog posts, and event announcements. Other websites are welcome to cross-post this material with attribution and a link to the original.
What's New
10/06/2017
The UN Secretary-General’s annual report names 64 perpetrators for abuse and exploitation of children in conflict, including the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition in Yemen. Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition member Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict has documented violations in Yemen by the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition, including attacks on hospitals and their impact on children's health.
10/05/2017
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said up to 10 hospitals were reported to have been damaged in the previous 10 days. Damage to Sham hospital in Idlib alone cut off half a million people from access to health care.
09/29/2017
Renewed bombing of hospitals in Syria’s six-year civil war by forces loyal to the government of Bashar al-Assad has sparked strong condemnations by human rights groups and despair among local doctors, who accuse the international community of ignoring attacks on medical facilities.
09/25/2017
As chair of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, Leonard Rubenstein outlines eight concrete steps states can take now—on their own and through UN bodies—to protect health workers and the sanctity of health care. His statement was given at a UN General Assembly side event on September 22, 2017.
09/22/2017
At the UN Human Rights Council. Canada joined countries calling for an international commission of inquiry into abuses in the armed conflict in Yemen. Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, some amounting to war crimes, have killed thousands of civilians and hit schools and hospitals.
09/18/2017
The abduction, arrest, and killing of thousands of health care workers, as well as the destruction of and damage to hospitals and clinics, have profound impacts on the health and well-being of populations for years and even decades to come.
09/14/2017
To advance international efforts to protect health care in conflict areas, UN Missions of Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom in collaboration with the Lancet-American University of Beirut Commission on Syria and Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, are organizing a side event during UNGA 72.
09/12/2017
The Special Rapporteur on the right to health for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spoke at a side event on September 12, 2017 at the Human Rights Council and emphasized that attacks on and interference with health care constitute one of the primary impediments to the realization of the right to health.
08/18/2017
Health workers are supposed to save lives and health facilities are supposed to be safe places for health and healing. They’re protected by the rules of war, but are still being attacked.
08/18/2017
Many humanitarian aid workers risk their lives to help others. Humanitarian aid organizations, UN member states, and the UN Security Council should take these immediate actions to protect them. Read this statement by the Advanced Training Program on Humanitarian Action (ATHA).