Medical Care in Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law and State Responses to Terrorism

• 2015

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• Dustin Lewis; Naz Modirzadeh; Gabriella Blum
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54813/HWGA7438

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About

This report discusses how counterterrorism policies and state responses to terrorism threaten the fundamental principle of international humanitarian law (IHL) that mandates the protection of medical care for all wounded combatants, regardless of affiliation. It examines how some states penalize medical assistance to terrorist groups, rejecting IHL's premises that medical care is legitimate and that terrorist groups can have medical corps. The text highlights gaps and weaknesses in IHL's protections for medical care, exacerbated by states' selective participation in treaties and the fragmentation caused by the UN Security Council's counterterrorism measures without considering their impact on IHL's foundational ethics.


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Tags

Focus Areas: Infrastructure Failure; Violence

Audiences: Emergency Managers; EMS Clinicians; Physicians; Public Health Professionals

Emergency Management Stage: Preparedness (Prevention / Protection)

Keywords: Health Care Facilities, Manpower, and Services; Terrorism; Warfare and Armed Conflicts; Armed Conflicts

Institutions: Harvard Law School

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