July 7, 2011 H.E. Gerard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations H.E. Ivan Barbalic, Permanent Represent

July 7, 2011 H.E. Gerard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations H.E. Ivan Barbalic, Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations H.E. Li Baodung, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nation H.E. José Filipe Moraes Cabral, Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations H.E. Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of Russian Federation to the United Nations H.E. Mark Lyall Grant, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations H.E. Néstor Osorio Londoño, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations H.E. Noel Nelson Messone, Permanent Representative of Gabon to the United Nations H.E. U. Joy Ogwu Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations H.E. Hardeep Singh Puri, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations H.E. Susan Rice, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations H.E. Nawaf Salam, Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations H.E. Baso Sangqu, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations H.E. Maria Luiza Ribierto Viotti, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations H.E. Peter Wittig, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Re: Support for the UN Security Council to include attacks against schools and hospitals in the trigger and listing mechanisms to protect children in armed conflict Dear Ambassador: We are writing to urge you to support the initiative by Germany at the UN Security Council to include parties that engage in attacks against schools and hospitals in the trigger and listing mechanisms established by the Security Council’s prior resolutions on protection of children in armed conflict. The Security Council has repeatedly identified attacks on schools and hospitals as one of six grave violations committed against children in armed conflict and thus subject to the monitoring and reporting mechanisms it has established. The signatories to this letter have direct knowledge of and are deeply concerned about assaults of hospitals and other health facilities. Children are especially vulnerable to assaults on their health and well-being in armed conflict as a result of increased exposure to disease and malnutrition as well as from physical injuries and psychological abuse inflicted on them. Landmine injuries alone severely injure 15,000-20,000 children a year. Hospitals are a vital resource to provide the interventions needed to prevent children’s deaths. If hospitals are under attack or destroyed, their lives are at severe risk. The extensiveness and severity of attacks on hospitals was noted by the groundbreaking 1996 Machel Report, which provided the foundation for the present monitoring, reporting and response structure. Subsequent annual reports of the Secretary General show how the attacks on hospitals continue, with devastating effects. The Secretary General’s reports also show that country level monitoring and reporting mechanisms have the capacity to document attacks on hospitals and increase protection of children in armed conflict. The immediate, short and long term harms to the health of children as a result of attacks on hospitals require determined action by the Security Council to expand monitoring of, and accountability for, these attacks. Expanding the trigger and listing process would enable the UN to better document these violations and include measures to halt these attacks on hospitals in future action plans with armed forces and other armed groups and to provide greater protection Page Two July 7, 2011 to children. Adding parties to the Secretary-General’s list of violators specifically for attacks on hospitals would also send a clear warning to perpetrators about the serious consequences of committing such violations. We commend Germany, the current chair of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, for its leadership in seeking to enhance the protection of schools and hospitals against attack and to strengthen mechanisms of accountability. We ask you to support this initiative, to be voted on next week, which will enable children safely and securely to go to school and to seek medical care whenever necessary. Thank you very much. Yours sincerely, World Medical Association Human Rights Watch International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organisations (IFHHRO) International Medical Corps International Rescue Committee International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims International Health Protection Initiative IntraHealth International Merlin Physicians for Human Rights Partners in Health American Public Health Association Karen Human Rights Group Cc Zama Coursen-Neff Leonard Rubenstein Eve Smets Chantale Walker Robert Young Contact: Lindsay Gordon, [email protected] .

Load more