23 March 2017
Attacks on hospitals and ambulances have become increasingly common in conflicts around the world. Last May the UK voted at the UN Security Council to ensure that perpetrators of such attacks – as seen in Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan – are held to account. Not holding perpetrators to account means that further attacks on healthcare are more likely.
At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week the MAP team received troubling news that the UK government intends not to support a UN Human Rights Council vote tomorrow (Friday 24 March) which would pursue accountability for potential violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory, including attacks on medical facilities and personnel during the 2014 offensive on Gaza.
Tweet your support for accountability
Basman Alashi, Director of the al Wafa Hospital which was destroyed by a missile attack in 2014, recently warned of the potential consequences:
“Impunity for the 2014 Israeli attacks on healthcare is not only a gross injustice for the victims, but it also sends a message that no place is safe for the building of a new hospital, no doctors or nurses are safe to treat the patients, and no ambulance is safe to transport injured patients to hospitals."
Supporting accountability for attacks on healthcare in other countries but not Gaza would set a dangerous double standard. The UK Government must send a clear message that there can be no impunity for attacks on healthcare, wherever they occur.
We’ve written to the Prime Minister, Theresa May, to ask her to ensure the UK supports accountability tomorrow. But we need your help to spread the word, too.
Please click the link below to send a tweet to UK Mission to the United Nations in Geneva: “We must protect healthcare everywhere. @UKMissionGeneva: vote for accountability for attacks in #Gaza at #UNHRC34.” To make more impact, you can attach one of our twitter images here.
If you don’t have twitter or want to support in other ways, please consider sharing this email with your friends, or share this link on Facebook.
Thank you for your support.
