Armed conflicts: humanitarian organizations alert on the intensification of violence against hospitals.

Ten years after the unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2286 on the protection of healthcare in armed conflict, the situation has worsened and is a “collective failure,” warn the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International President of Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Noting the continuation, and even intensification, of attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and medical personnel, the three organizations denounced in a joint statement released on Monday, the “catastrophic” consequences on the ground: destroyed infrastructure, hindered evacuations, healthcare workers and patients killed or injured, sick people deprived of essential treatments, and women forced to give birth without adequate assistance.

They emphasize that insecurity in healthcare is a major signal of the breakdown of the rules meant to limit the effects of war and call on states and all parties in conflicts to strictly respect international humanitarian law, including the obligation to protect medical structures and personnel.

Drawing on the recommendations of the UN Secretary-General and the mechanisms for documenting attacks established since 2012, the ICRC, WHO, and MSF call for urgent measures: translating commitments into concrete actions, integrating the protection of healthcare into military doctrines, strengthening national legislation, allocating sufficient resources, using their influence on conflict parties, investigating attacks quickly and impartially, ensuring accountability, and transparently monitoring the implementation of the resolution.

“This is not a failure of law, but a lack of political will,” they insist, urging global leaders to act so that healthcare is never a casualty of war.