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	Where is the urgency to bring attacks on healthcare to an end? by ICRC President Peter Maurer International Committee of the Red Cross, agencies   Mar. 2018   WHO: Alarming Spike in Attacks Against Health Workers, Facilities in Syria   The World Health Organization reports it has verified dozens of attacks on health care facilities, ambulances, services and workers in Syria''s combat zones this year.   WHO''s monitoring system reports 28 hospitals and other facilities last month were targeted in eastern Ghouta, which currently is under relentless air and ground attack from Syrian forces and their Russian ally. Spokesman Christian Lindmeier said health care facilities also were hit in Idlib and Homs.   "In all, the 67 verified attacks on health facilities and workers in the first two months of this year amount to more than 50 percent of verified attacks in all of 2017, which totaled 112…These unacceptable attacks resulted in the deaths of 19 people, among them four health workers.The attacks also left 28 people injured, seven of them medical staff," he said.   Lindmeier said the attacks have had devastating consequences for the civilian population in these combat zones.In the month of February alone, he says violent incidents disrupted 15,000 medical consultations and nearly 1,500 surgeries, many life-saving.   The World Health Organization is calling on all of Syria''s warring parties to immediately stop attacking people caring for the sick and wounded.It warns attacks against medical facilities and medical personnel are prohibited under International Humanitarian Law and, in certain instances, may amount to war crimes.   http://www.who.int/emergencies/attacks-on-health-care/en/   Nov. 2017 (ICRC)   Since my last briefing, brutal attacks have continued, unabated, against the wounded and sick, medical care providers, ambulances and health care facilities.   We are at risk of creating a ''new normal'': too many actors are legitimizing attacks as "collateral damage" rather than outrageous violations.   The question we need to be asking today is ''where is the urgency to bring attacks to an end?''   The regularity and brutality of attacks – committed by both state armed forces and non-state armed groups – that ICRC witnesses is nothing short of alarming. The litany of attacks and killings in CAR, Syria and Afghanistan are well known. The losses are tragic, and they continue to occur with shocking regularity in most of the conflicts where the ICRC works, including in Nigeria, the Philippines, Libya, South Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.   The long-term impact of attacks on healthcare reverberates far beyond the immediate deaths, injuries and pain. They can result in the collapse of entire health systems: communities already enduring armed conflict are exposed to health crises, and without a functioning health system they continue to suffer needlessly. Essential health services are unable to cope; universal health care coverage and health-related sustainable development goals become impossible to achieve.   The single most effective way to prevent such terrible suffering is, without doubt, improving respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) and the basic principle of humanity. Responsibility for respecting IHL lies with the parties to armed conflicts themselves. Additionally, all States must ensure respect for IHL, including within the framework of the Council, and exercise their influence over the practices of their military partners and allies.   The international community has a clear blueprint for action in the recommendations of the UN Secretary-General and by others, including the Health Care in Danger initiative of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. Now Member States must put the political commitments of Resolution 2286 into concrete actions.   Some progress has been made including through diplomatic networks in Geneva and New York, but much more needs to be done, and with much greater urgency.   The ICRC calls for action in six key areas:   One, we need to be better able diagnose the problem. Reliable, systematic data collection is essential. While attention has focused on the devastating attacks in Syria, we know in many places attacks go undocumented, and therefore unnoticed by decision-makers. ICRC is ready to work with States and relevant UN agencies to ensure improved mechanisms are in place. Objective data is the basis for neutral, impartial and non-politicised debates, decisions and implementations of measures on this issue.   Two, we urge all States and parties to armed conflict to scrutinize, without delay, their military doctrine, procedures and practice so that medical care is protected in planning and conduct of military operations. States must take all possible measures to ensure their allies do the same, especially in joint and multinational military operations. Diplomatic and declaratory commitments remain meaningless, unless they are followed by the armed forces of the same actors and their allies on the ground.   Three, States should review their domestic legislation and practice to ensure the delivery of impartial medical care is in line with IHL and medical ethics at all times. Healthcare workers must be free to deliver impartial health care and not be coerced to act against medical ethics, threatened or detained for acting in accordance with the ethical principles of their profession. For example in a welcome step, Nigeria has changed laws so that hospitals can treat gunshot victims immediately, instead of waiting for a police report. It is an astonishing situation indeed when health workers are punished for helping victims while there is no accountability for attacks on hospitals.   Four, I encourage States to voluntarily report on their efforts to implement Resolution 2286. They should support, through technical or financial assistance, the implementation of practical measures by others through their bilateral and multilateral operations.   Five, I ask States to engage with the ICRC in bilateral confidential and operational dialogues with a view to change practices and behaviours by their armed forces and allies whenever we raise these issues. The amount of energy to deny even a confidential conversation to establish the facts and their legal reading is frankly obnoxious.   Finally, the Council should consistently advocate – unanimously and unambiguously – that violence against health care is never acceptable.   We know the solutions, we have the tools, and we have the support of many actors. It is political will that we urgently need.   * ICRC President Peter Maurer address on "Protection of medical and humanitarian personnel in conflict" Hosted by the Permanent Mission of France, 31 October 2017, New York.   http://healthcareindanger.org/the-issue/ http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/opinions-and-positions/opinion-pieces/2015/stop-the-violence-protect-health-care/ http://www.icrc.org/en/document/hcid-statement   Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition: http://www.safeguardinghealth.org/ http://bit.ly/1TQ9wyu http://bit.ly/2beluch http://bit.ly/1rR0NWu http://bit.ly/2a2tNak http://www.emro.who.int/eha/attacks-on-health-care/index.html http://www.emro.who.int/eha/news/protecthealthworkers-stop-the-attacks-on-health-care-in-syria.html http://www.emro.who.int/eha/countries-in-crisis/index.html http://www.msf.org/en/notatarget/ http://www.msf.org/en/news   * UN Security Council Resolution 2286 adopted in May condemning attacks on health care workers and facilities in armed conflict: http://bit.ly/2beluch   * Protect Education from Attack: http://www.protectingeducation.org/   * Report of the UN Secretary-General on the protection of civilians in armed conflict: http://bit.ly/2q9Dk6x Visit the related web page
	Human rights defenders face worsening risks for challenging firms, UN expert warns by Michel Forst UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders   States and companies must do more to protect and respect human rights defenders working on business-related issues, amid a worsening climate of attacks, a United Nations expert has said.   “Human rights defenders who are pressing for companies to be held accountable should not be criminalised or threatened,” said Michel Forst, presenting his fourth report to the UN General Assembly.   “They play a critical role in ensuring sustainable development and the enjoyment of fundamental rights.   “Human rights defenders, local communities, trade unionists and whistleblowers who denounce business scandals are all facing increasing dangers worldwide, and the responses so far have not matched the challenges,” Mr. Forst added.   The Special Rapporteur said there was a “worrying tendency to silence critics”, even though more and more companies were developing guidelines to ensure that development projects respected the rights of communities and defenders.   “Human rights defenders are often depicted as anti-development, but it is high time we change the narrative and show that those who act against human rights are actually those who are against progress and development,” Mr Forst said.   In many regions of the world, human rights defenders paid a high price for exposing human rights violations in the context of business-related activities, he said. The increasing number of threats and attacks could largely be explained by the lack of preventative measures such as consultations of affected communities and reactive measures like grievance mechanisms.   “I am also appalled by the number of cases in which companies benefit from corrupt political systems that favour short-term profits over human rights,” the Special Rapporteur added.   He highlighted a number of concrete steps which States could take to prevent human rights violations of people trying to hold companies to account.   For example, countries could introduce laws obliging companies to show due diligence in protecting human rights and guaranteeing the participation of communities and rights defenders in business-related decisions.   International finance institutions also had to ensure their projects avoided any negative impact on human rights on the ground, he added. http://bit.ly/2yMHphN   Dec. 2017   Human rights defenders are being killed or forcibly disappeared. It needs to stop. (Amnesty International)   International Human Rights Defenders Day (9 December) is a day to recognize and celebrate the work of so many courageous individuals who stand up against injustice. This year, we are honouring the thousands of lives that have been taken in the struggle to make this a better world.   Human rights defenders from all walks of life have been killed or forcibly disappeared for what they do or who they are. Teachers, students, political activists, factory workers, journalists, lawyers, environmentalists and so many others. People from marginalized communities, LGBTI activists, Indigenous leaders, farmers demanding their rights. What all these people have in common is that they have taken injustice personally and raised their voices for human rights.   Almost 20 years ago, the UN adopted the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders by consensus, committing to recognise and protect the right of all to defend and promote human rights. This was a landmark resolution that sparked a light when we were about to enter into the 21st century. It was a glimmer of hope for so many human rights defenders around the world who were facing appalling risks for standing in the way of powerful interests. It looked like human rights were at last being taken seriously in the hallways of power.   But something went wrong. Twenty years since, and we have counted at least 3,500 women, men and children who have been killed or forcibly disappeared simply for defending human rights. That is approximately one every other day.   We published this week a report highlighting this alarming situation, a concern that has only increased throughout the years.   Deadly but preventable attacks: killings and enforced disappearances of those who defend human rights tells the story of over 90 human rights defenders from 40 countries across the globe who have lost their lives in the name of human rights. Some of them have been killed or forcibly disappeared for what they do, others were also targeted because of who they are. But what they all had in common is that most of these deaths came following a string of escalating attacks.   If only states had taken their international obligations seriously and acted diligently when these threats were reported, if only had they publicly recognized the work of these individuals and investigated those responsible of the attacks, most deaths could have been prevented.   But instead they left them unprotected and allowed those responsible to walk free and continue attacking.   Today, on International Human Rights Defenders Day, we are standing together with the friends and families who have been touched by the killing or the enforced disappearance of a human rights defender. We are taking a stand with those communities who have lost a dauntless voice but who refuse to be left voiceless. We are standing up for all those who are still being intimidated and deterred from taking up the struggle for human rights.   We must keep raising our voice and demand our governments to thoroughly investigate all these attacks and effectively protect human rights defenders who are still at risk.   We owe it to all the brave people who lost their lives for defending our human rights, and to all those courageous defenders who are still raising their voices regardless of the risks they are facing.   Let’s mark this International Human Rights Defenders Day by honouring those lives and work together to ensure that human rights defenders around the world are recognised, protected and free to go about their crucial work – this will benefit us all.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/12/human-rights-defenders-day/ http://www.ishr.ch/ http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/ http://www.hrw.org/ http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/Declaration.aspx Visit the related web page
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