Special Rapporteur of the UN on the right to health Tlaleng Mofucheng Thursday called On states to stop the targeting and murder of health and care workers and immediately release all health worn, harassed or tortured health workers. It also urged states to “respect and protect the right to health and its underlying determinants”, in particular the protection of health and infrastructure personnel.
Mofucheng noted in her report that workers and health and care establishments often become targets of violence, looting or removal during conflicts. In 2024, the World Health Organization reported 1,637 cases of attacks against health care during current conflicts, causing 937 deaths and 1,774 injuries to health workers. In addition to direct violence against health workers and establishments during conflicts, more than 440 health workers were arrested or detained in 12 countries and territories in 2023. These took place during two mass arrests targeting civilians and raids targeting hospitals.
The Special Rapporteur has drawn special attention to the GazaNoting that 1,450 of these attacks have taken place in the Palestinian territory occupied since October 7, 2023, with “violence supported by Israeli forces” having an impact on medical infrastructure in the band. Human rights organizations have also documented at least 310 health and healthcare workers, as arbitrarily owned by Israeli forces. In reference to the testimonies of international health and care workers, Mofucheng also affirms that the Israeli army had directly targeted health workers during operations.
Mofucheng said: “The conflict zones do not become there for human rights areas ”, where doctors, paramedical paramedics are persecuted and targeted to carry out rescue work … (m) Edic facilities are attacked to such an extent that injured victims do not have access to care or treatment and, consequently, no chance of survival.”
Armed conflict laws, including treaty And customary Law, require all parties to a conflict to distinguish civilians and combatants, as well as between military and civilian objects, and attacks cannot be directed against civilians or civilian objects, while the accidental damage provided against civilians must not be excessive in relation to the military benefit of direct and concretes that the attack. Health, military and civilian agents, also benefit from specific protection within the framework of LOAC.
Apart from the protection of care workers during conflicts, Mofucheng also expressed the need to respect the rights of health workers as a rights holder themselves and as a group “in a unique way to act as catalysts for health equity”. She noted that the violations of the rights of health workers create additional challenges that result in unjust, unhealthy and dangerous work environments. These challenges often have disproportionate impacts on historically vulnerable groups, such as blacks, women, LGBTQIA + and professionals born abroad / qualified, which can lead to a lack of diversity among health workers and undermine the quality of care for patients of marginalized groups.