Health Under Fire: The targeting of medical workers in conflict zones - Live Web Seminar

Since the adoption of the First Geneva Convention in 1864, international actors have recognized the Red Cross emblem as a symbol that identifies and protects health care personnel, hospitals, and medical equipment in times of armed conflict. However, over recent years, the political instrumentalization of humanitarian healthcare has eroded the inviolability of the symbolic value of this emblem, as well those of the Red Crescent and Red Crystal. This development has left medical workers increasingly vulnerable to attacks in conflict zones, a dilemma that has emerged as one of the most serious challenges to humanitarian operations today.

This Live Web Seminar will address a number of legal, political, and professional dilemmas that this situation presents and will consider the following questions:

• What is the scope of the protective functions of the Red Cross, Red Crescent, and Red Crystal emblems for health professionals under national and international humanitarian law?
• To what extent are humanitarians willing to tolerate risk and to what lengths will humanitarian agencies go to provide security and safety for medical staff?
• What strategies of humanitarian health diplomacy, and what potential operational steps, are likely to prove effective in ensuring that health care initiatives are perceived as independent, neutral, and impartial?

For more information see HPCR website.

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NOW AVAILABLE : Recording of the web seminar