Виступ делегації України у зв'язку з прийняттям резолюції Ради Безпеки ООН 2286 (2016) щодо захисту медичних установ та персоналу під час збройних конфліктів

Statement (EOV) by the delegation of Ukraine following adoption of the resolution on health care in armed conflict under the agenda item «Protection of Civilians in armed conflict»

3 May 2016

Mr. President,

I would like to congratulate you on the assumption of Presidency for the month of May.

It was our honor to cosponsor the adopted resolution and we are grateful to the delegations of Egypt, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and Uruguay for their timely initiative, as well as for taking on board Ukraine’s suggestions.

We thank the Secretary General for his valuable contribution to our debate. But the main thanks should go to our today’s briefers. We appreciate highly the work your staff have been doing for years.

The protection of civilians in armed conflict has become an increasingly complex challenge. But this complexity must not in any way dissuade us in our collective efforts to address it.

Armed conflicts exert all kinds of hardships and suffering on civilians. It is our deeply held conviction that all sides in conflict have both legal and a fundamental moral obligation to provide all possible medical care for the sick and injured, as well as to protect medical personnel, who often put themselves in harm’s way to save lives.

Yet, in today’s conflicts hospitals are becoming increasingly common targets.

When medical facilities come under shelling or bombs, it is an unspeakable tragedy.

When they are attacked on purpose, it is an abhorrent barbarism that has to be combatted in our presumably civilized times.

What is really horrific is that the number of such instances keeps going up.

We are seeing it happening in Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere. Especially worrying is the situation in Syria, where there have been many dozens, if not hundreds of attacks against medical facilities. And in the last six months this trend got only worse.

Last week’s attacks on the Al Quds Hospital in Aleppo reminded us of the enormous difficulties and dangers that health workers face every day.

Two doctors, including the only pediatrician in the city, three medical support staff and dozens of patients, among them children, lost their lives in this horrific incident. It can’t be left without reaction. Therefore, we fully support the request just made by the UK delegation for the briefing in Aleppo.

It speaks volumes about the horrendous humanitarian situation in Syria and a complete disregard for all relevant norms of international humanitarian law.

Attacks on medical facilities are a blatant violation of international law. Strict and long-established norms of international law provide for an absolute inviolability of medical facilities and workers in conflict zones.

Physicians for Human Rights, a human rights NGO that is documenting and advocates against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world, reported 16 attacks on Syrian hospitals in October last year alone.

According to this NGO’s data, since 2011 at least 610 medical personnel have been killed in Syria. 183 medical facilities in this country have been targets of military attacks on 233 occasions.

The World Health Organization reports that more than 99 health facilities, including hospitals and clinics, have been damaged or destroyed in Yemen.

Attacks on health facilities and personnel in Afghanistan have risen 50 percent in the last year as per data of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan reports that in 2015, health workers and institutions in this country were subjected to arbitrary searches by government forces, threats from armed groups, looting and abductions.

It is of utmost importance that those responsible for such war crimes are held accountable. Ukraine calls on all states to cooperate fully with existing international criminal justice institutions, including the International Criminal Court, to combat impunity and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law.

Mr. President,

This terrible statistics I have just mentioned makes the resolution adopted today all the more topical.

The Security Council is uniquely positioned to send a strong message concerning this problem. That’s why we hope that the document will serve as a clear political signal to all parties concerned that the Security Council will remain extremely vigilant on the issue of protection of humanitarian, medical and health-care workers and medical facilities in situations of armed conflict.

As Ms. Liu so emotionally put before us: we should make this resolution save lives.