Can the UN Security Council Stop Hospitals Being Targets in War?

The Agency Headquarters Hospital (AHH) in Bajaur Agency, shortly after a Taliban suicide bomb attack in 2013. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPSBy Lyndal RowlandsApr 29 2016 (IPS)Hospitals, health care workers and patients in war zones are supposed to be protected under international humanitarian law yet recent attacks from Syria to Afghanistan suggest that they have become targets.The seeming lack of respect for the sanctity of health care in war zones has prompted UN Security Council members in New York to consider a new resolution designed to find new ways to halt these attacks.The Security Council is expected to vote on the resolution on May 3, just days after Al Quds Hospital in Aleppo, Syria was bombed. Twenty seven staff and patients were killed in the airstrike on the hospital on Wednesday night, Dr Hatem, the director of the Children’s Hospital in Aleppo told The Syria Campaign.Among the victims was Dr Muhammad Waseem Maaz, who Dr Hatem described as “the city’s most qualified paediatrician.”Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria told journalists in Geneva Wednesday that Dr Maaz was the last paediatric doctor left in Aleppo, although IPS understands there is another paediatrician in the Aleppo countryside.Dr Hatem said that Dr Maaz used to work at the children’s hospital during the day and attend to emergencies at the Al Quds hospital at night time.“Dr Maaz stayed in Aleppo, the most dangerous city in the world, because of his devotion to his patien...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Armed Conflicts Civil Society Crime & Justice Development & Aid Editors' Choice Featured Global Governance Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse Peace Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF Source Type: news