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UN / HEALTHCARE CONFLICT
STORY: UN / HEALTHCARE CONFLICT
TRT: 3:25
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 28 SEPTEMBER 2016, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
28 SEPTEMBER 2016, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Let us be clear. Those using ever more destructive weapons know exactly what they are doing. They know they are committing war crimes. Imagine the destruction; people with limbs blown off; children in terrible pain with no relief; infected; suffering; dying, with nowhere to go and no end in sight. Imagine a slaughterhouse. This is worse. Even a slaughterhouse is more humane.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The global public does not distinguish between Member States, the Security Council, or the Secretary-General. They only know one thing: The world has let them down. We have let them down. There must be action. There must be accountability.”
6. Med shot, Syrian ambassador
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Attacks and access restrictions on medical care are signs of a broader erosion of respect for international humanitarian law. Failure to act is an affront to our shared humanity. It undermines States’ legal obligations and the multilateral system as a whole.”
8. Zoom out, Joanne Liu
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Joanne Liu, International President, Doctors Without Borders:
“In both Yemen and Syria, four of the five permanent members of this council are implicated in these attacks. In an age where counter-terrorism shapes war, a license to kill has been issued. We call on you all--again--to revoke this license. Revoke it, whether or not your enemies are receiving the medical care that you attack. Because throwing medical impartiality to the wind is also becoming a new norm of warfare. Military action and humanitarian needs must be balanced.”
10. Wide shot, delegates
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Joanne Liu, International President, Doctors Without Borders:
“Make your resolution operational. Stop bombing hospitals. Stop bombing health workers. Stop bombing patients.”
9. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Michele Sison, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations:
“The people of eastern Aleppo are literally dying in their streets. They are maimed and wounded by airstrikes carried out by Russia and the Assad regime, and they are unable to receive treatment because of the medieval siege Russia and the Syrian regime have imposed.”
10. Wide shot, Sison and Liu
11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Evgeniy Zagaynov, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations:
“However instead of seeking a collective solution, the representatives of states directly responsible for fanning the flames of enmity in Syria at the Security Council and other forums engage in anti-Russia demagoguery. What we can see in the media now represents public speculation based on the suffering of people for propaganda purposes as well as to deflect attention from their own failed policies.”
12. Zoom out, Security Council
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said hospitals, clinics, ambulances and medical staff in Aleppo were under attack around the clock adding that “even a slaughterhouse is more humane.”
Speaking today (28 Sep) at a Security Council meeting on healthcare in armed conflict, Ban said those in Syria using “ever more destructive weapons” knew they were committing “war crimes.” Reports had emerged earlier today of strikes on two hospitals in Aleppo. According to Physicians for Human Rights, 95 percent of medical personnel who were in Aleppo before the war have fled, been detained, or killed. Ban said, “This is a war against Syria’s health workers.”
The Secretary-General also pointed to attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in Yemen and Pakistan and told the Council that there must be action and accountability. He said the wounded and sick, “civilians and fighters alike”, must be spared. Ban said attacks and access restrictions on medical care were signs of a “broader erosion of respect for international humanitarian law” and a failure to act was “an affront to our shared humanity.”
International President of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Joanne Liu said the Security Council resolution 2286 on the protection of medical facilities and personnel in armed conflict had “plainly failed to change anything on the ground” as “unrelenting attacks” continued since the adoption. She added that the failure reflects “a lack of political will among member states fighting in coalitions, and those who enable them.” She said “four of the five permanent members” of the Council were “implicated in these attacks.” She said, “In an age when counter-terrorism shapes war, a license to kill has been issued” urging the international community to “revoke it, whether or not your enemies are receiving the medical care that you attack.”
Liu added that attacking hospitals and medical workers was a “non-negotiable red-line” and called for this to be included in all military manuals, rules of engagement and standard operating procedures. She urged the Council to make resolution 2286 “operational” and said, “Stop bombing hospitals. Stop bombing health workers. Stop bombing patients.”
United States ambassador Michel Sison said people in eastern Aleppo were being “maimed and wounded by airstrikes carried out by Russia and the Assad regime, and they are unable to receive treatment because of the medieval siege Russia and the Syrian regime have imposed.” She called on Council members not to “become inured to these atrocities as Russia and the regime carry out this new offensive.” She said the tactics used in eastern Aleppo were the very same ones that the Syrian government “patented” years ago. This included “systematically removing medical supplies from assistance convoys, denying medical evacuations, bombing hospitals to pieces,” and “killing first responders in unconscionable ‘double tap’ attacks.”
Russian ambassador Evgeniy Zagaynov said his country “decisively” condemned attacks on medical facilities and personnel and called for a “careful investigation.” He said Russia deemed it “indispensable” to approach the problem of upholding security of medical personnel “in the broader context of the protection of civilians without creating a type of hierarchy among different categories.” He said the Council heard a “great deal deal, very emotionally, about the tragedy on the inhabitants of Syria and the conditions in which medical personnel operate there; the suffering of the civilian population in this country must be verified.”
Zagaynov said there were several chances to end the conflict in Syria and to find a political settlement to which “there are no alternatives”. However, he said, “instead of seeking a collective solution, the representatives of states directly responsible for fanning the flames of enmity in Syria at the Security Council and other forums engage in anti-Russia demagoguery.” He said what is being seen in the media represented “public speculation based on the suffering of people for propaganda purposes as well as to deflect attention from their own failed policies.”
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