Since 2014, MdM – France is working alongside gazans farmers and fishermen in the access restricted areas, where shootings regularly put life of civilians at risk and continuously infringe human rights and international law.
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SYRIA: VIOLENCE AGAINST HEALTHCARE, A DISMAL RECORD
The worst year. Despite a new UN resolution strongly condemning attack against medical units and personnel, deliberated attacks against hospitals, doctors, and patients in Syria have reached an unprecedented level in 2016. Breaches of International Humanitarian Law have become commonplace, and impunity the norm.
ANOTHER YEAR OF CONTINUOUS ATTACKS AGAINST HEALTHCARE
Between January and September 2016, 126 attacks on healthcare facilities in Syria have been verified by WHO and partners. Reported attacks during October-December are currently under documentation and verification process. Undoubtedly, the number of verified attacks in 2016 will tragically increase. In November, repeated attacks on medical units, notably in Idlib and Aleppo, reached a peak. Due to attacks, no functional hospital were left in east Aleppo earlier this month.
Over half of the medical facilities in Syria are either closed or partly functioning. The targeting of hospitals and health centres do not only risk the lives of health workers and their patients, but also disrupt the provision of critically needed services. It destroys life.
Six medical units supported by Médecins du Monde have been attacked in Syria this year. 15 health workers and 53 patients lost their lives during these attacks.
– In February, one hospital in Idlib Governorate was damaged in an air strike. As a result, patients had to seek care in another hospital 10 km away. The hospital has since then been rehabilitated.
– In April, one hospital in east Aleppo where trauma services and primary health services were provided was damaged in an air strike. The same day, still in east Aleppo, another attack hit a primary health care centre. Both structures were rehabilitated.
– In June, another hospital in east Aleppo where trauma services and primary health services were provided was attacked. A warehouse where drugs were stocked was attacked three times in several days, seriously affecting the delivery of medicines to health centres.
– In July, a hospital in Dera’a Governorate providing primary and secondary care – including maternal and childcare – was destroyed. Patients, including pregnant women, had to seek care in another hospital located 10 km away from the destroyed facility. The hospital has been rebuilt in another location but is not yet fully operational.
A NEW UNSC RESOLUTION
On 3 May 2016, the United Nations Security Council adopted the resolution 2286. The resolution reaffirms the need for the parties to armed conflict to abide by their obligations under International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and calls for further measures to enhance the protection of, prevent attacks against medical units and personnel, and to better ensure accountability for such acts.
In a letter to the President of the Security Council dated 18 August 2016, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, recommended that “States should use tools and means of leverage at their disposal, such as diplomatic, political and economic means, to ensure that parties to armed conflict respect their obligations under international law in relation to the protection of medical care in armed conflict”.
However, nothing has changed on the ground and medical units and personnel continue to be targeted.
“It is a disgusting and blatant disregard for the special protected status of health-care facilities under international humanitarian law; a clear ‘spit in the face’ defiance of your resolution [2286]” Under-Secretary-General For Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, Statement to the Security Council on Syria, 21 November 2016
STILL NO ACCOUNTABILITY
Under customary IHL, States have the duty to investigate war crimes allegedly committed by their nationals or armed forces, or on their territory, and if appropriate, prosecute the suspects. Attacks against medical units are war crimes. Such a duty to investigate and hold to account is applicable to non-state actors. When they fail to do so, UN Secretary General recommended in its 18th August letter that “the Security Council should consider establishing international fact-finding missions or commissions of inquiry […] to investigate allegations of serious violations of international law relating to the protection of medical care in armed conflict”.
It is time to act.
“Since we do have a difference of opinion between the Minister Mouallem [Government of Syria Foreign Affairs Minister] saying that there is total denial of any aerial bombing of hospitals in eastern Aleppo and our point of view that indicates that there has been tragic bombing of hospital in eastern Aleppo and elsewhere frankly, then perhaps we should be allowed to send a verification team on the UN side and made by the UN and other partners to verify the damage of the hospitals in both east and west Aleppo.” UN Special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, Press Conference, 20 November 2016
RECOMMENDATIONS
To UN Security Council members:
To the parties to the conflict:
The UN Security Council has failed Syrians. In almost six years of conflict, close to half a million people have been killed and eleven million have been forced to leave their homes. Most recently, the Syrian and Russian governments and their allies have carried out unlawful attacks on eastern Aleppo with scant regard for some 250,000 civilians trapped there. Armed opposition groups have also fired mortars and other projectiles into civilian neighbourhoods of western Aleppo, though according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, “indiscriminate airstrikes across the eastern part of the city by Government forces and their allies are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties.” Efforts to stop these atrocities and hold those responsible to account have been blocked repeatedly by Russia, which continues to misuse its veto power in the Security Council.
The UN’s special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has warned that the UN must not allow “another Srebrenica, another Rwanda, which we are sadly ready to recognize written on that wall in front of us, unless something takes place.” Yet, there is no sign that the Security Council deadlock will end anytime soon. The guardian of international peace and security has failed to fulfill its task under the UN Charter and has failed to uphold its responsibility to protect the Syrian people.
This is why we, a global coalition of 223 civil society organizations, urgently call upon UN member states to step in and request an Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly to demand an end to all unlawful attacks in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, and immediate and unhindered humanitarian access so that life-saving aid can reach all those in need. Member states should also explore possible avenues to bring perpetrators of serious crimes under international law on all sides to justice.
We welcome Canada’s leadership in seeking UN General Assembly action and we strongly urge all Member States to join the 73 countries from all regions by endorsing their initiative. These countries should work toward an Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly at the earliest opportunity, as UN member states have done in the past when the Security Council was deadlocked.
We call in particular upon the 112 supporters of the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) Code of Conduct, which includes a pledge to support “timely and decisive action” aimed at preventing or ending the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, to join this effort and actively promote meaningful action through the UN General Assembly.
Inaction should not be an option. UN member states should use all the diplomatic tools at their disposal to stop the atrocities and protect the millions of civilians in Syria. History will judge harshly those that fail to step up.
Note: Médecins du Monde – France is among the signatories of this statement.
*For the full list of signatories, check: Uniting for Peace in Syria: Global Civil Society Appeal to UN Member States.
(Paris, Tuesday 6 September 2016) Medecins du Monde is forced to evacuate its staff from Sana’a in Yemen. The country is currently facing an intensification of the coalition bombardments and a surge in violence. Medecins du Monde is calling for an immediate ceasefire to facilitate the deployment of aid and respond to the dire humanitarian needs.
Since the suspension of the peace talks on 6 August, fighting and bombardments intensified in Yemen, making the activities of the humanitarian aid agencies almost impossible to operate. It is for this reason that Medecins du Monde has decided to evacuate the personnel working in Yemen currently.
The situation in the country is alarming. “80% of the inhabitants are in dire need of urgent humanitarian aid and around 25% of the healthcare facilities have been destroyed and no longer functioning. Almost half of the population is food insecure. To respect international humanitarian law, deployment of humanitarian aid and access to the wounded should be eased” said Dr. Jean-Francois Corty, Director of International Operations for Medecins du Monde.
Medecins du Monde is urging the international community to call for a ceasefire and safe access to the population in need of humanitarian assistance.
Before this evacuation, the Medecins du Monde team was based in Sana’a to rehabilitate health centers damaged by the bombardments and to provide primary health care services. There were mobile clinics equipped to reach out to to children, women and men who do not have the ability to move around the city.
Press Contact
Aurélie Defretin/ Lisa Veran
01 44 92 13 81 -14 31 presse@medecinsdumonde.net /www.medecinsdumonde.org
Unacceptable!
A hospital supported by Medecins du Monde, located in southern Syria, in the Governorate of Dera’a, was bombed on Sunday July 31st. Medecins du Monde reiterates its call to stop the attacks targeting the health infrastructures and to put an end to the unacceptable escalation of violence.
The Medecins du Monde team working in the field says that Jassem Hospital was hit by an air strike and isn’t functional anymore. The hospital used to provide primary health care for more than 3000 patients per month.
At least 9 staff members have been killed and 21 injured, two of which were medical personnel. Unfortunately, this number is likely to increase because of the critical condition of some of the injured. The deterioration of the situation in the south of Syria is adding to the difficulties that are faced by the humanitarian actors who intervene in other Syrian Governorates, notably in Aleppo.
(Paris, 28 July 2016) The situation in the Governorates of Aleppo and Idlib has very much deteriorated in a few weeks. Doctors of the World can see the dramatic impact on the civilian population that is being held hostage.
The healthcare facilities continue to be under regular attack. Over a period of a week, 9 attacks have partially or completely destroyed the Aleppo blood bank, two ambulances and six hospitals including a paediatric unit. A baby is reported dead. Today, it is practically impossible to treat victims under these conditions. Healthcare facilities, which should be protected, are the targets of attacks which cause injuries and deaths.
Civilians, who are once more the victims of this conflict, are now trapped in the eastern part of Aleppo which is completely under siege. They find that it is almost impossible to get any medical treatment or essential goods for their basic needs; it is extremely difficult and dangerous for the humanitarian aid workers to work there and to provide any aid. The so-called Castello road, the only road which still provided access for supplies to be brought in and provided an exit from the city by way of the north-west corner is now closed. If this siege were to continue, between 200,000 and 300,000 people would be trapped and cut off from any kind of humanitarian aid.
In view of these facts, Doctors of the World is asking the international community to push for this siege to end as soon as possible and so to enable civilians to bring in supplies. We also stress the need to establish a lasting truce so as to facilitate the work of the aid workers and to help move the trapped civilians.
Doctors of the World is also calling for healthcare staff, injured people and healthcare facilities to be protected and for international humanitarian law to be observed.
In Syria, Doctors of the World has established fixed and mobile clinics to compensate for the lack of infrastructure in the north of the country and to offer primary healthcare to the population in the Governorate of Idlib. The organisation also supports Syrian partners and contributes to the salary costs of their healthcare staff. It supplies medication, equipment and consumables, of which there are terrible wartime shortages, to the health centres and hospitals which are still operating in Aleppo and Daraa. In the city of Aleppo, Doctors of the World and its partners are providing support to 8 healthcare facilities.
Press contact
Aurélie Defretin / Lisa Veran
01 44 92 13 81 -14 31 // 0609173559
presse@medecinsdumonde.net
Two years after the Israeli military operation on Gaza in the summer of 2014, which claimed the lives of almost 1,500 Palestinians, the debris remain visible in the strip. The reconstruction of the infrastructure, medical infrastructure in particular, and the rehousing of the 100,000 people who were rendered homeless due to the war, is halted by the ongoing blockade of Gaza since 2007.
Over 11,000 houses were demolished in the Gaza strip during the 51 days of intense aerial bombing in July and August of 2014. Today, less than 10% of the houses have been rebuilt, and over 75,000 Palestinians are still without a home. Entire neighborhoods in Gaza don’t have access to running water.
The health facilities have been equally damaged: out of the 32 hospitals in Gaza, 17 hospitals and 58 health centers were hit during the war. The hospitals and the clinics have not been rebuilt yet, and the residents of Gaza suffer from a limited access to healthcare. The situation of the children of Gaza who represent half of the 1.8 million inhabitants of the strip, is increasingly worrying. A number of these children have only known Gaza under blockade. Those who require vital medical treatment, cannot leave Gaza to receive it.
Looking at the larger picture, the economic situation in Gaza is paralyzed by the blockade. The possibility to export goods from Gaza to the outside world is non-existent; the employment rate in the private sector is on the decline and the unemployment rate is now more than 40%.
Medecins du Monde and the international organizations members of AIDA, Association of International Development Agencies working in Palestine, denounce the little progress made during the two years of reconstruction of Gaza, in particular the fact that goods and materials cannot be imported from the outside world. They call on the government of Israel to lift the 10-year long blockade that deprived the Palestinians from the basic services that they absolutely need.
The 20th June is a symbolic day dedicated to all refugees and in the context of an unprecedented
humanitarian crisis, it reminds us that the international humanitarian law and asylum law are
violated every day in Europe. Doctors of the World ‐ Médecins du Monde (MdM) is a French
humanitarian and public interest organization, which works in the field of international solidarity and
has been helping refugees for nearly 40 years. Today, MdM is alarmed by their situation of extreme
vulnerability in their countries of origin, the host countries and on the migration routes, especially in
Greece which is a country of transit for hundreds of thousands of them.
Since the agreement between the European Union and Turkey came into force, 50,000 refugees have
been blocked in Greece and survive in poor conditions. In the face of this crisis, all MdM European
network members have got into action and strengthened their healthcare teams.
MdM works today in 28 different places in Greece and intervenes directly in camps or through mobile
clinics. We provide hundreds of medical and psychological consultations every day.
In 2015, more than 30,000 consultations took place in Lesbos and Chios and 14,000 in Idomeni. We
attended in priority to the ever‐increasing number of the most vulnerable people, such as pregnant
women, children, injured people and people with a chronical condition.
In order to meet the basic needs of these persons, we also conducted a survey of these refugees, who
mainly come from Syria.
86% of respondents declared that they had been victims of violence in their country of origin and/or
during their migration. The youngest fled to avoid forced military recruitment; unprotected women
alone with their children try to join their family already settled in Europe.
In Turkey, which is a country of transit, some of them were forced to pay $500 to get into a refugee
camp. Among those who managed to find a job, the vast majority is paid 30% less than a Turkish
worker. We were also told about many acts of violence committed by the Turkish police.
All these traumatic experiences have dramatic consequences for these people. The mental and
physical health of the persons who managed to reach the European Union via Greece and survived
crossing the 10 kilometers between Greece and Turkey, is extremely poor. Only 14% of them declare
to be in good health while more than ¾ of the refugees received in our facilities say that they suffer
from psychological distress. Those who stay in Greece are confined to open‐air camps and have huge
medical needs.
In this context, we will continue to denounce the agreement between the EU and Turkey, which
violates the asylum law and the Geneva conventions. Today, refugees take more risks to reach the
Fortress Europe and the death toll is unacceptable. We reaffirm the pressing need to open safe and
legal routes for all these people, with the option to seek asylum in the country of their choice. The European Union must respect the fundamental rights of refugees and ensure specific protection for women and children—who now make up the majority of migrants/refugees.
As France prepares for an international conference on reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Doctors of the World is deeply concerned about the psychosocial impact of violence related to the occupation and settlement in Palestine. The organisation condemns the surge in attacks that violate not only the rights of Palestinians but also international law.
Present in Palestine since 1996, Doctors of the World works in Gaza and the Nablus area in the north of the West Bank. In Nablus, the organisation is focusing on delivering psychosocial programmes to prevent and alleviate the psychosocial impact on communities of violence related to the settlement and occupation of Palestine. Incidents resulting from Israeli army incursions, attacks by settlers and demolitions are the most commonly encountered issues.
According to the United Nations’ latest figures, attacks committed by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have risen fourfold in less than ten years. These attacks are Increasingly violent and in July 2015 they culminated in the triple murder of the Dawabsheh family in Duma, a crime that received international condemnation. And the past 6 months have seen more than 3 incidents every week, just in the communities where Doctors of the World provides assistance.
Above and beyond the physical impact, this ever-present threat of violence is taking an increasingly heavy psychological toll on our patients. According to our latest assessment:[1] 70% present more than 2 psychological symptoms, such as insecurity, stress and anxiety or problems with sleeping, over half present more than 2 symptoms related to traumatic disorders, such as involuntary memory, intrusive thoughts, loss of attention and concentration and 30% of parents cite a decline in their children’s progress at school. One in every four people has to be referred to specialist mental health services, which exceeds WHO’s forecasts for adults confronted with violence (15 to 20%). With conflict and abuses an integral part of everyday life, this state of severe stress appears to now be the norm — a situation that must not be allowed to become an inescapable fact of Palestinian life.
According to Israeli NGO Yesh Din,[2] complaints related to the occupation and settlement filed by Palestinians have less than a 2% chance of resulting in conviction. In over 80% of cases, police investigations are quickly closed and no action is taken. However, international pressure can make a difference, as those responsible for the Duma murders have been arrested. This pressure must not be reserved for only the most serious incidents.
Under international humanitarian law, the Israeli government is responsible for the security of people living in the occupied Palestinian territories. But in reality, communities are not provided the protection they need and the prevailing climate of impunity serves only to encourage repeated attacks.
While we applaud the reviving of the peace negotiations initiated by France, there can be no hope of resolving the crisis as long as international humanitarian law is not respected and the perpetrators of violence are not brought to justice. As some twenty government leaders assemble on June 3rd to discuss the prospects for peace, Doctors of the World calls on France and the European Union to adopt concrete measures to put a stop to the impunity caused by the settlement and occupation of the West Bank.