The protection of health care in armed conflict is not a grey area. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law, and Resolution 2286 reinforces it – calling on all parties to conflict to respect and protect medical missions, and on States to take concrete steps: strengthening domestic legal frameworks, integrating protective measures into military operations, investigating violations, and holding perpetrators accountable.
Ten years on, violations continue. This is not because the rules are unclear. It is because they are not being fully implemented.
Sita Zouri Épouse Traore is an ICRC midwife working in Fada N’Gourma, Burkina Faso. She articulates something that sits at the heart of this gap – not as a policy point, but as a personal one.
«What motivates me to continue to go to work when health care is under threat is the impact my work has on vulnerable communities,» she says.
«For me, every life matters. When faced with a risk, we feel afraid. But behind that fear, we’re even more committed, because what we’re setting out to do is even more important to us than that fear. So, to save lives, I’ll have to overcome my fear and go out there.»
That commitment – from health care workers in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Palestine, Colombia, Venezuela, and everywhere else – cannot be taken for granted. It is extraordinary. And it cannot be a substitute for protection.
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