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
07/18/2018
When hospitals or clinics are attacked, women often become targets. But what do we know about the real impact on their health and well-being?
07/09/2018
A new report reviews laws, prosecutions, and other forms of state-inflicted violence in multiple countries against health workers for treating alleged terrorists or enemies. Of 16 countries reviewed, at least ten have laws that have been or could be used to prosecute the provision of health care to people in need as a form of supporting terrorism.
05/26/2018
Denouncing attacks on health-care facilities and personnel in conflict situations, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2286 in May, 2016. Addressing the Council, then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, condemned military actions leading to destruction of health-care facilities as war crimes, and called on Member States to honour their obligations to protect health-care workers and patients in conflict saying “even war has rules”.
05/22/2018
This briefing is published jointly by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), ahead of the United Nations Security Council’s debate on protection of civilians in armed conflict scheduled for 22 May 2018. The briefing covers the period from 1 May 2017 to 1 May 2018 and highlights the vulnerability of health services and facilities in Libya to attacks, interference and disruption by armed groups.
05/21/2018
New report from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition shows alarming pattern of deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on health care.
05/02/2018
This article examines attacks on health care facilities in conflicts in six middle- to high- income countries that have occurred over the past three decades to try and determine if attacks have become more common, and to assess the different methods used to collect data on attacks. The six conflicts reviewed are Yemen (2015-Present), Syria (2011- Present), Iraq (2003–2011), Chechnya (1999–2000), Kosovo (1998–1999), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995).
04/22/2018
The attacks on healthcare are a shocking reality of ongoing violent conflicts. This report aims to explore the impact pf violence on medical education, with its specific components, such as education facilities, teaching hospitals, libraries, professors, medical students and all other directly related components.
04/14/2018
Driven by a deplorable trend of unlawful attacks on health-care facilities and workers in armed conflicts throughout the world, on May 3, 2016, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 2286 calling for an end to such attacks. The Secretary-General followed with recommendations of concrete measures for implementation. However, unlawful attacks on health care have continued or intensified in many conflicts, notably in Syria. We, academic institutions, civil society, and co-sponsoring Member States, convened a side event during the 72nd UN General Assembly to focus global attention on this issue and the imperative that Resolution 2286 be implemented.
03/15/2018
The WHO's commitment to collecting and analyzing data on attacks against health care is a sign of great progress toward holding the perpetrators of the violence accountable. But it is important that this momentum is continued to turn that action into change. In this article Rubenstein discusses the global actions that were taken leading up to the WHO commitment, what are some continuing barriers to accountability, and what are the next steps forward.
