UN Security Council condemns attacks on medical personnel in violent conflict

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Tuesday to condemn attacks on medical and humanitarian personnel in violent conflict, while demanding relevant parties facilitate safe and unimpeded passage for those engaged in medical duties.

The unanimously adopted resolution by the 15-nation council comes after a series of reported attacks targeted hospitals in Syria.

Earlier on Tuesday, dozens of civilians were killed and wounded when rebel rocket fire targeted a hospital in Syria's battered city of Aleppo. Last week, Al Quds field hospital, situated in a rebel-held neighborhood in Aleppo, was hit by a missile from a fighter jet.

The resolution urged all parties to armed conflict to develop effective measures and prevent acts of violence against personnel engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities.

While addressing the Security Council meeting held Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that intentional and direct attacks on hospitals are "war crimes."

"Denying people access to essential health care is a serious violation of international humanitarian law," he added, while urging member states to develop domestic legal frameworks that protect health facilities and medical workers.

Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of Medecins Sans Frontieres, an independent medical organization, said to the council that hospitals must not be attacked or forcibly entered by armed personnel, including to search for and capture patients.

"Medical ethics cannot be buried by war," she stressed.

The resolution of the most powerful UN body seeks to reinforce existing humanitarian law on the issue. It further deplores the long-term consequences of such attacks on civilian population and healthcare systems.

According to Physicians for Human Rights, a human rights NGO, since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, it has documented more than 360 attacks on some 250 medical facilities. More than 730 medical personnel have been killed.

Currently, almost half of all medical facilities in Syria are closed or only partially functioning. Millions of Syrians lack life-saving healthcare.

The latest development in the war-torn country is that violence has renewed in Aleppo, a major city in northern Syria, when the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and likeminded groups unleashed repetitive large-scale attacks on Syrian military positions in southern Aleppo.

The attacks were intensified by shelling on the government-controlled parts of the city, as the rebels in eastern Aleppo were trying to advance into the western part of the city.

The United Nations has called upon the warring Syrian sides to immediately recommit to the cessation of hostilities. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that a joint Russian-U.S. center to monitor the ceasefire in Syria will be launched in the next few days in Geneva, Switzerland. Endit