Event information

24 November 2016, 12:15-13:30

Downloads

Flyer >

Violence Against Healthcare and Humanitarian Workers

Geneva Academy Talks

Yemen, MSF hospital destroyed by bombing Yemen, MSF hospital destroyed by bombing

Violence against health care facilities and humanitarian workers remains a recurring and preoccupying issue in today’s world.

Paradoxically, this takes place within a well-accepted framework of protection of health care facilities and medical or humanitarian personnel under international humanitarian law (IHL), which rules and principles are not contested either by states or non-state armed groups.

This IHL Talk, organized with the support of the ICRC, aims at reflecting on the reasons why health care and humanitarian workers are being targeted despite their protection under IHL and what policy tools can be elaborated to implement and ensure better respect of the law by the different parties in armed conflicts.

Moderation

Imogen Foulkes, BBC Geneva Correspondent

Panelists

Babak Ali Naraghi, Head of Health Care in Danger Project, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Robert Kolb, Professor of Public International Law, University of Geneva and Geneva Academy

Caroline Abu-Sada, Director of the Research Unit on Humanitarian Stakes and Practices (UREPH), MSF Switzerland

About IHL Talks

The IHL Talks are a new series of events, hosted by the Geneva Academy, on international humanitarian law and current humanitarian topics. Every two months at lunchtime, academic experts, practitioners, policy makers and journalists discuss burning humanitarian issues and their regulation under international law.

 Video

Violence Against Healthcare and Humanitarian Workers

Violence against health care facilities and humanitarian workers remains a recurring and preoccupying issue in today’s world.

Paradoxically, this takes place within a well-accepted framework of protection of health care facilities and medical or humanitarian personnel under international humanitarian law (IHL), which rules and principles are not contested either by states or non-state armed groups.

This IHL Talk, organized with the support of the ICRC, aimed at reflecting on the reasons why health care and humanitarian workers are being targeted despite their protection under IHL and what policy tools can be elaborated to implement and ensure better respect of the law by the different parties in armed conflicts.

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

IHL Lab Geneva Academy News

Addressing Compliance Gaps in Arms Transfers - is the Arms Trade above International Law?

28 May 2025

Organized with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Quaker United Nations Office in Geneva, and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, this event explored legal gaps and accountability failures in global arms transfers.

Read more

GHRP EU News News

Bridging Geneva and Europe: advancing human rights in the digital age

2 June 2025

The Geneva Human Rights Platform has taken its work on strengthening the international human rights system to the heart of European policymaking.

Read more

A general view of participants during of the 33nd ordinary session of the Human Rights Council. Training

The Universal Periodic Review and the UN Human Rights System: Raising the Bar on Accountability

10-14 November 2025

This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.

Read more

Iraq, Mosul. View of the west bank after the war. Project

IHL in Focus

Started in January 2024

As a yearly publication, it keeps decision-makers, practitioners and scholars up-to-date with the latest trends and challenges in IHL implementation in over 100 armed conflicts worldwide – both international and non-international.

Read more

Panel Discussion: Project

Treaty Body Members’ Platform

Started in January 2014

The Treaty Body Members’ Platform connects experts in UN treaty bodies with each other as well as with Geneva-based practitioners, academics and diplomats to share expertise, exchange views on topical questions and develop synergies.

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2024

published on July 2025

Read more