WHO, ICRC and MSF issue joint call to protect healthcare in armed conflict

Ten years on from the unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, the heads of the World Health Organiza­tion (WHO), the International Commit­tee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Méde­cins Sans Frontières (MSF) have issued a stark joint statement: the resolution has failed in its core objectives, and the pro­tection of healthcare in conflict zones has deteriorated rather than improved.

A decade of broken commitments
Resolution 2286, adopted in May 2016, obliged all parties to armed conflict to respect and protect medical personnel, fa­cilities, and transport under international humanitarian law (IHL). The tenth anni­versary of its adoption has prompted not a commemoration but an urgent call to account. “Today, we mark not an achieve­ment – we mark a failure,” the three organ­isations stated in their joint declaration, published 4 May 2026 in Geneva.

The statement describes an unrelenting pattern of harm: hospitals reduced to rubble, ambulances obstructed or delayed, and medi­cal staff and patients killed or injured in direct and indirect attacks. The clinical consequences are severe – patients dying of otherwise treat­able conditions, women delivering without adequate obstetric care, and entire populations losing access to essential services.

IHL obligations and the failure of political will
The three organisations are explicit that the legal framework itself is not the prob­lem. IHL already requires states not only to abide by the rules protecting healthcare, but also to use all available influence to en­sure other states and parties to conflict do the same. The failure, they argue, is one of implementation and political will.

The statement also references World Health Assembly Resolution 65.20, adopt­ed in 2012, which established systematic WHO documentation of attacks on health­care. The organisations call for stronger and more transparent reporting mechanisms to build an evidence base capable of informing prevention, guiding responses, and support­ing accountability processes.

Seven concrete measures demanded of states
The joint call sets out seven specific ac­tions demanded of states. These include translating existing commitments into concrete implementation of Resolution 2286; integrating healthcare protection into military doctrine, rules of engage­ment, and operational guidance; review­ing and strengthening domestic legisla­tion; and allocating adequate financial and technical resources to protective measures.

States are also urged to use their influ­ence over parties to conflict – including those they support in any form – to ensure compliance with IHL. Additionally, the statement calls for swift, transparent, and impartial investigations into attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel, and for regular public reporting on the imple­mentation of Resolution 2286, including documentation of progress, challenges, and lessons learned.

An appeal to world leaders
The three organisations, drawing on their combined presence across the world’s most active conflict settings, describe the target­ing or incidental destruction of healthcare infrastructure as not merely a humanitar­ian crisis but, in their words, “a crisis of humanity.”

The joint statement concludes with a di­rect appeal to heads of state: “We urge world leaders to act and show the needed political leadership to end this violence. Health care must never be a casualty of war.”