Ten years after the UNSC passed Resolution 2286 and committed to protect health care in conflict zones, combatants have attacked health care at least 18,000 times around the world – with attack totals on the rise each year. On this decade anniversary, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) calls on the UN Secretary-General and UN Member States to:

• Confront the polycrisis facing health care in conflict, by responding to mounting attacks coming amid declining health resources, new technologies, and widespread impunity for attacks;
• Establish a time-bound UN expert group to assess progress and failures since Resolution 2286, as the lack of cohesive UN response to attacks on health care has fueled impunity;
• Factor in the full scope of harm caused by attacks on health care beyond immediate casualty counts, including their reverberating impacts on health systems and civilian populations; and
• Ensure accountability for attacks on health care under international law and enhance protections for patients and health care workers under fire.

“Resolution 2286 was meant to protect health workers and hospitals in war zones,” said Sam Zarifi, JD, PHR’s executive director. “Instead, we are at an inflection point where international law is respected less and less. States and armed groups continue to attack health care because the political, legal, and economic costs of doing so remain far too low. In the 10 years since 2286, there has been only one major international case that has held a perpetrator accountable for violation of the protection of health care in conflict. From Gaza to Ukraine to Sudan, impunity for bombing hospitals, torturing clinicians, or shelling ambulances is the norm.”