Attacks on health workers, hospitals and clinics in conflict zones increased by 25 percent last year to the highest level on record, a new report has found.
The increase was driven mainly by new wars in Gaza and Sudan, but also by ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Myanmar and elsewhere, and it said such attacks were continuing at a “relentless pace.” Protecting health in conflict situations the coalition said.
Researchers recorded more than 2,500 incidents of “violence or interference with health care” in 2023, including the killing or kidnapping of health workers and the bombing, looting, and occupation of hospitals.
The coalition called for domestic and international prosecutions of “war crimes and crimes against humanity, including attacks on the wounded and sick, medical facilities and health workers.”
The report highlights examples of attacks on children’s hospitals and sites running vaccination campaigns, leaving people vulnerable to infectious diseases. He also warned of a new trend of explosive-laden drones being used to target medical facilities.
The coalition’s chair, Leonard Rubenstein of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, said the violence inflicted on health care workers and facilities has “reached horrifying levels.” He said the report included instances where workers were deliberately targeted and where militants were reckless or indifferent to the harm caused.
“The lack of restraint we have been witnessing since the beginning of the conflict suggests to me: Medical protection law It meant nothing to the fighters,” Rubenstein said.
“One of the consistent features of this attack is the continued impunity for these crimes. For more than a decade, governments have failed to deliver on these commitments, We have failed to reform our practices, halt the transfer of weapons to perpetrators, and bring those responsible for crimes to justice.”
The federation is made up of Over 40 non-governmental organizations We have been producing annual reports for the past 11 years. It identified 2,562 incidents of violence against or interference with medical care in conflicts in 2023.
This includes 685 arrests or kidnappings and 487 murders of health care workers, including doctors, nurses, and ambulance drivers, almost double the number in 2022. ing.
In some cases, health facilities were damaged or destroyed by both government forces and nonstate armed groups. The report also found that these facilities are “increasingly being occupied or converted to military use” in violation of humanitarian law.
The researchers said these numbers should be considered an underestimate because information is difficult to obtain from conflict areas.
They identified 11 countries and territories where children’s health services were affected, including the bombing and occupation of Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital in Gaza City, Zwana Amal Children’s Cancer Center in Khartoum, and the Kherson Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital in Ukraine. Identified.
The report warned that long-term conflicts have “cumulative and lasting effects” and that health systems have little or no functionality even after the violence ends.
Rubenstein said, “In the aftermath of these attacks, the impact on access to health care and on populations has been devastating, and the destruction and severe disasters have led to fewer conflicts, as seen in Tigray, Ethiopia, and Yemen. It continues even today,” he said. Damage to the healthcare system and the departure of so many healthcare workers. ”
He said statements condemning violence against health care by World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other officials could be the “foundation for more collaborative global leadership.” .
Rubenstein said prosecutions need to be included to provide justice and act as a deterrent. The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said Monday he “welcomes” the announcement that he is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli officials on war crimes charges.
“We need accountability for many crimes in that war, but it’s also important to prosecute crimes, particularly those related to the provision of medical care and the misuse of medical facilities,” Rubenstein said. “And I don’t think we’ve seen that yet.”
