MSF
Denounces Blatant Breach of International Humanitarian Law
By Dr Joanne Liu, President, MSF
International
For four years,
the MSF trauma center in
Kunduz was
the only facility of its kind in northeastern Afghanistan, offering essential
medical and surgical care. On Saturday, October 3, this came to an end when the
hospital was deliberately bombed. Twelve MSF staff and 10 patients, including
three children, were killed, and 37 people were injured, including 19 members
of the MSF team. The attack was unacceptable.
The whole MSF
Movement is in shock, and our thoughts are with the families and friends of
those affected. Nothing can excuse violence against patients, medical workers
and health facilities. Under International Humanitarian Law hospitals in
conflict zones are protected spaces. Until proven otherwise, the events of last
Saturday amount to an inexcusable violation of
this law. We are working on the presumption of a war crime.
In the last
week, as fighting swept through the city, 400 patients were treated at the
hospital. Since its opening in 2011, tens of thousands of wounded civilians and
combatants from all sides of the conflict have been triaged and treated by MSF.
On the night of the bombing, MSF staff working in the hospital heard what was
later confirmed to be a US army plane circle around multiple times, releasing
its bombs on the same building within the hospital compound at each pass. The
building targeted was the one housing the intensive care unit, emergency rooms
and physiotherapy ward. Surrounding buildings in the compound were left largely
untouched.
Despite MSF
alerting both the Afghan and Coalition military leadership, the airstrike
continued for at least another 30 minutes. The hospital was well-known and the
GPS coordinates had been regularly shared with Coalition and Afghan military
and civilian officials, as recently as Tuesday, September 29.
This attack
cannot be brushed aside as a mere mistake or an inevitable consequence of war.
Statements from the Afghanistan government have claimed that Taliban forces
were using the hospital to fire on Coalition forces.
These statements imply
that Afghan and US forces working together decided to raze to the ground a
fully functioning hospital, which amounts to an admission of a war crime.
This attack does
not just touch MSF, but it affects humanitarian work everywhere, and
fundamentally undermines the core principles of humanitarian action.
We need
answers, not just for us but for all medical and humanitarian staff assisting
victims of conflict, anywhere in the world. The preserve of health facilities
as neutral, protected spaces depends on the outcome of a transparent, independent investigation.
