Ten years after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2286 to protect health care in armed conflicts, the situation has worsened rather than improved. Violence against medical facilities, transport, and personnel continues unabated, undermining the resolution’s intent and leaving civilians without safe access to life‑saving services. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have issued a joint call for urgent action, stressing that attacks on health care represent not only a humanitarian crisis but a crisis of humanity.
On the front lines, hospitals are destroyed, ambulances obstructed, and medical staff and patients caught in deadly attacks. These violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) result in preventable deaths, unsafe childbirth, and communities losing essential services. The organizations emphasize that states and all parties to conflict must comply with IHL obligations to respect and protect health care, and must use their influence to ensure others do the same.
The recommendations accompanying Resolution 2286 remain a clear roadmap for states, and WHO’s systematic documentation of attacks since 2012 has provided vital evidence. However, consistent reporting, accountability, and political will are still lacking. The joint statement urges governments to translate commitments into concrete action, integrate protection of health care into military doctrine, strengthen domestic laws, allocate resources, influence parties to conflict, investigate attacks transparently, and report regularly on progress.
The leaders underline that the failure lies not in the law itself but in the lack of political will to enforce it. They call on world leaders to demonstrate genuine leadership and ensure that health care is never treated as a casualty of war.
