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Pervasive violence against hospitals, patients, doctors, and other health workers has become a horrifically common feature of modern war. These relentless attacks destroy lives and the capacity of health systems to tend to those in need. Inaction to stop this violence undermines long-standing values and laws designed to ensure that sick and wounded people receive care. Leonard Rubenstein?a human rights lawyer who has investigated atrocities against health workers around the world?offers a gripping and powerful account of the dangers health workers face during conflict and the legal, political, and moral struggle to protect them. He shares the stories of people who have been attacked while seeking to serve patients under dire circumstances: health workers in the forests of eastern Myanmar seeking to serve oppressed ethnic communities; surgeons in Syria operating as their hospitals are bombed; emergency responders in Gaza attempting to avoid gunfire as they rescue the wounded; and many others. Rubenstein reveals why violence against health care takes place with impunity, detailing how political and military leaders evade their obligations, improperly portray violence as legitimate, and fail to hold perpetrators to account.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: When the Hospital Is a Battlefield
1. Protection of Health Care in War: A Brief History
2. Denying Care to Enemies
3. Counterterrorism: The Devouring Monster
4. Health Care as a Strategic Target: Syria
5. Recklessness: The Saudi Assault on Yemen
6. Obstruction: The Israel–Palestine Conflict
7. Armed Groups: Threats and Violence by Nonstate Actors
8. Challenges in Making Norms Matter
Conclusion: Toward Humanity and Dignity
Notes
Index
About the author
Leonard Rubenstein is professor and director of the Program on Human Rights and Health in Conflict at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was previously president of Physicians for Human Rights and is a recognized global expert on violence against health care.
Summary
Leonard Rubenstein—a human rights lawyer who has investigated atrocities around the world—offers a gripping and powerful account of the dangers health workers face during conflict and the legal, political, and moral struggle to protect them. He shares the stories of people who have been attacked while seeking to serve patients.
Additional text
A major new book on healthcare in armed conflict...destined to become a landmark in its field...important and necessary.
