Safeguarding the right to health in crisis
In a world fractured by conflict, pandemics and the climate emergency, and against a backdrop of corrosive misinformation and disinformation, the right to health is more essential than ever. This right, rooted in our shared commitments, cannot be put on pause in times of conflict and crisis. It is not a policy option, but a legal obligation and a moral compass.
The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, enshrined in international human rights law, applies to every individual, everywhere, without discrimination. Seen through this lens, the right to health is about dignity, equality and justice. And it is inseparable from the broader range of fundamental rights and freedoms – the right to life, to food, to water and sanitation, to information, and to participation in decisions that affect our lives.
This human rights lens is particularly important during today’s troubled times. Attacks on health care are not only violations of international humanitarian law; they are also egregious violations of the right to health and of related human rights.
Hospitals and healthcare workers are protected under international humanitarian law, but there has been an alarming rise in attacks against them in conflicts across the world. Data from my office, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, shows that civilian deaths in armed conflicts more than doubled between 2021 and 2024.
In Gaza, from 7 October 2023 to 11 June 2025, my office recorded 735 attacks on health care that killed 917 people and injured 1411, affected 125 health facilities, and damaged 34 hospitals. In Sudan, in May this year alone, six attacks led to 313 deaths and 74 injuries. In Ukraine, my office has recorded the destruction of hospitals, attacks on ambulances, and the torture and ill treatment of medical staff. The World Health Organization has documented 358 attacks so far this year, and nine in Russia. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, hospital patients were abducted and held incommunicado earlier this year.
In a world driven by geopolitical division, some parties to conflict are treating health care as a legitimate target. Equally disturbing: perpetrators rarely face accountability. In some cases, disinformation has been used to justify strikes on medical facilities. This is a dangerous normalisation of violations that should never be tolerated, and I urge governments to take immediate action to end it.
Delivering on the commitment to protect
The United Nations Security Council and all member states must urgently address these failures, and renew their commitment to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law, in keeping with Security Council Resolution 2286 (2016). States have an obligation to integrate the protection of health care into military planning, emergency preparedness and response, and to operationalise precautionary measures.
My office’s unique role is to bring the full force of international human rights law and humanitarian law to bear on these issues. We have stepped up our engagement on the protection of health care in conflict, precisely because this issue is so critical in today’s fractured world. We work to expose the direct and indirect consequences of attacks, which range from the destruction of facilities and killings of healthcare workers and patients to impacts on individuals, communities and societies. We advocate for accountability, for political engagement at the highest levels, and for sustained dialogue and international cooperation to close the gap between commitments and reality.
In short, we stand with the brave doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in war zones, who often put their own health and lives at risk to protect others.
The political choices before us are stark. We can either allow health care in conflict to be targeted and eroded, or we can affirm at the highest levels that protecting health care is a legal obligation and a moral imperative – including in times of war.
We can either allow misinformation, disinformation and distrust to corrode global solidarity, or we can invest in human dignity, truth, participation and transparency as the lifeblood of resilient societies.
Protecting health care is not only about saving lives in the present. It is about preserving our common humanity and creating conditions for societies to recover, rebuild and thrive.
As the United Nations marks its 80th year, this must be a moment for recommitment and renewal. Our organisation was founded in response to the devastation of war, with a determination to build peace on foundations of dignity and rights. Today, that determination must be rekindled by strengthening the human rights pillar – which anchors our collective response to crises in law, in principle and in humanity.
This is how, together, we can turn towards renewal and ensure that the promise of health as a human right continues for generations to come.
