Joint Call by the President of the ICRC, the Director-General of WHO and the International President of MSF

Why It Matters

Continued assaults on health infrastructure undermine international humanitarian law, jeopardize civilian survival, and erode global health security, demanding urgent policy and operational reforms.

Key Takeaways

• UN Resolution 2286 adopted 2016, now deemed a failure
• ICRC, WHO, MSF urge concrete implementation of protection measures
• Attacks on hospitals have risen, killing patients and staff
• Call includes integrating health‑care protection into military doctrine
• Demand transparent reporting and impartial investigations for accountability

Pulse Analysis

The ten‑year anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 2286 has become a stark reminder that legal instruments alone cannot shield medical services in war zones. Since the resolution’s adoption in 2016, data from the WHO and the ICRC show a steady climb in documented attacks on hospitals, ambulances and health workers, with dozens of facilities reduced to rubble each year. These violations not only breach international humanitarian law but also cripple essential health delivery, leading to preventable deaths, disrupted disease surveillance, and long‑term public‑health setbacks in conflict‑affected populations.

Experts attribute the widening gap between policy and practice to a lack of political will and insufficient integration of humanitarian norms into military planning. When armed forces omit health‑care protection from rules of engagement, they create operational blind spots that enable deliberate or negligent targeting. The joint statement from the ICRC, WHO and MSF stresses that embedding protection clauses into doctrine, training, and procurement can translate abstract obligations into actionable safeguards, reducing the likelihood of accidental or intentional strikes on medical sites.

To reverse the downward trend, the organizations propose a multi‑layered approach: revise national legislation to criminalize attacks, allocate dedicated funding for protective equipment and rapid‑response teams, and establish a robust, independent reporting mechanism that feeds into accountability processes. Transparent investigations, backed by international legal frameworks, can deter future violations and restore confidence in the rules of war. If states act swiftly, the next decade could see a resurgence of respect for health‑care neutrality, preserving lives and upholding the humanitarian principle that medical care must never become a casualty of conflict.