Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/
Accessed 3 May 2014
Unhealthy Practice
Medical Work in Conflict Zones Is Compromised
Excerpt
For the second time in less than six months, polio vaccine workers in Pakistan have come under fire. In early April, an unidentified armed group attacked a team of Pakistani health workers administering vaccines and killed one of the police officers guarding them. The program suffered a tragic loss last December, when gunmen killed nine polio workers. Since then, the government has suspended the vaccination campaign in Pakistan’s tribal region — a major setback to public health in a country where polio remains endemic. By the end of March, almost a quarter of a million children scheduled for polio vaccinations had not received them in that region. Meanwhile, in northern Nigeria, where polio is also endemic, vaccination efforts are strained. Last February, nine vaccine workers there were killed by gunmen associated with Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group that claims polio vaccinations are part of a Western plot against Islam.
Some observers, such as the Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Laurie Garrett, persuasively argue that the CIA is partially to blame for turning health workers abroad into targets. In 2011, the CIA employed a Pakistani doctor to conduct a fake vaccination campaign in an effort to track down Osama bin Laden. News of the scheme reinforced the population’s worst suspicions about the motives behind immunization campaigns. Earlier this year, deans of a dozen of the United States’ most prestigious public health schools wrote a letter to President Barack Obama demanding that public health programs never again be used as a cover for intelligence gathering operations…
…Those who attack medical personnel in conflicts should be prosecuted under international law for war crimes. As a start, the Security Council should refer the Syrian government’s killing, arrest, and torture of medical personnel for investigation by the International Criminal Court. Russia and China will no doubt resist, but their opposition is no excuse for refusing to demand criminal accountability.
The international community must recognize the fragility of health care in conflict, reaffirm the norms of protection and respect, and take vigorous action toward assuring adherence to legal obligations. Otherwise, health workers who provide care will remain at high risk and people who need care the most will be abandoned.