Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like first to thank Denmark, Spain and New Zealand for convening this meeting and bringing urgently needed attention to the protection of health care in armed conflict.
Ten years ago, Security Council Resolution 2286 was adopted in response to intolerable attacks, threats and obstruction affecting medical care in conflict.
It reaffirmed the protection owed to the wounded and sick, medical personnel, transports, and facilities, and called for effective military doctrine and practice, domestic normative frameworks and accountability for ensuring safe access to medical care.
Ten years later, violence affecting medical facilities, transport and personnel has continued, and in many contexts the harm this resolution sought to prevent has intensified.
Put simply: the unacceptable situation that led the Council to act 10 years ago is even worse today.
Ambulances held at checkpoints or attacked during evacuations;
Patients injured or killed while receiving treatment;
Medical staff brutally targeted;
Clinics without medicines;
Operating rooms without anesthetics;
Families walking for days to reach safe medical care after fleeing violence.
These are conditions the International Committee of the Red Cross sees in our operations today.
It must be said here: when health care is no longer safe, it is a clear warning sign that the rules and norms intended to limit the harm of war are breaking down.
While many dangers identified in Resolution 2286 remain, we also better understand today how much health care depends on other essential services. Hospitals do not function in isolation.
Damage to electrical grids, water systems, fuel supplies, transport routes or communications networks can disable intensive care units, interrupt surgery, compromise cold chains, and prevent ambulances from reaching the wounded and sick.
This is particularly visible in densely populated urban settings, where civilians, hospitals and essential services are concentrated.
A single strike can cut power, block roads, damage water systems and overwhelm nearby hospitals at the same time.
When these other systems are degraded by hostilities, health care systems are compromised.
New risks are also emerging. The use of AI-enabled systems in military operations may influence targeting and operational decisions, but this must not undermine the protection owed to civilians, medical personnel and facilities.
These tools must support — not replace — informed human judgment where lives are at stake. Cyber operations must not target or unduly disrupt hospital systems and patient data.
IHL applies regardless of the means or method of warfare. New technologies do not create legal vacuums.
International humanitarian law provides robust protections for health care and the systems that sustain it. Full implementation of these obligations is essential and urgent.
The ICRC’s recommendations to the UN Security Council and to all states are practical:
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First, protection of health care must begin before conflict erupts and be integrated throughout military operations — in doctrine, planning, targeting procedures, rules of engagement, training, and command responsibility. Hospital locations must be systematically identified, and their protection reflected in targeting decisions. Civilian harm mitigation measures must be in place from the outset. This also requires protecting the systems that sustain health care.
Protection of health care cannot be improvised only once hostilities begin.
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Second, medical care must remain impartial and protected. Patients must be treated based on medical need alone. Medical personnel must be able to work in accordance with medical ethics. Health services must never become instruments of military strategy, pressure or punishment. Access to health care must also be safeguarded, including through rapid and unimpeded passage of medical personnel, ambulances, and essential supplies.
Across our operations, we see the extraordinary commitment of health workers who continue to provide care under extremely difficult and often dangerous conditions. Their determination in this vital work represents a lifeline of hope for those caught in war's devastation – but it cannot compensate for a failure of protection.
We appreciate the attention given to protecting health care in armed conflict – as demonstrated through the important engagement of states here today, and through events including the Greentree Retreat on Renewing Commitment to the Protection of Health Care in Armed Conflict under IHL held in March, as well as further events planned for Protection of Civilians Week and around the anniversary of the adoption of Resolution 2286. We call for states to deliver on this momentum.
As highlighted in the joint call issued just two days ago by the ICRC President, the Director-General of the World Health Organization and the International President of Médecins Sans Frontières, the recommendations of the UN Secretary-General that followed Resolution 2286 remain a clear and actionable roadmap for states.
We stand ready, with our presence in conflict settings, medical expertise and operational capacity, to support states in implementing these critical measures.
We also encourage all states to join and contribute to the aims of the Global Initiative to Galvanize Political Commitment to International Humanitarian Law.
The dedicated workstream on the meaningful protection of hospitals in armed conflict, co-chaired by Nigeria, Pakistan, Spain and Uruguay is identifying practical ways to strengthen implementation based on state practices.
To conclude, renewed commitment and action are required by all states.
Places of healing must remain sanctuaries – especially in war's darkest moments.
Because when a hospital is bombed, a doctor is killed, or an ambulance evacuating a patient is targeted, it is a direct attack on the very fabric of our shared humanity.
We must act to uphold humanity in war.
Thank you.
