How counterterrorism throws back wartime medical assistance and care to pre-Solferino time / Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier
Document type:
Article
Title:
How counterterrorism throws back wartime medical assistance and care to pre-Solferino time
Author zone:
Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier
Host item entries:
Languages:
English
Abstract:
Domestic counterterrorism (CT) frameworks have been increasingly employed to criminalize impartial medical care to wounded and sick from non-State armed groups labelled as criminal or terrorist in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs). It has also contributed to legitimize attacks and incidental damage on medical facilities in armed conflicts overlooking the international humanitarian law (IHL) protection afforded to the wounded and sick as well as to medical personnel and facilities. This article compares the treatment of the wounded and sick in both international armed conflicts (IACs) and NIACs in the context of the global war on terrorism. It demonstrates the impacts that CT measures have on the IHL protection of the medical mission while demonstrating the increased acceptance that some incidental damages, such as the downgrading of IHL core protections, are tolerated, by some countries in the global fight against terrorism. The article concludes that States could easily limit the impact of CT on IHL by adding an exemption in their CT framework for humanitarian and medical assistance that is compatible with IHL.
Links:
Authors:
Keyword in English:
Keyword in French:
Go to: