The Criminalization of Healthcare

“Healthcare professionals continue to be harassed, arrested, and prosecuted for providing care to those in need, in violation of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, or both:

-In some countries, laws criminalizing support for terrorists and others opposing the state are “inappropriately applied to the provision of medical care”. They cast healthcare as a prohibited form of support to the enemy and criminalize those that provide it as a result.

-In other countries, general laws are used to punish health providers on grounds unrelated to the provision of care (e.g. illegal assembly, spreading false news), but the underlying reason for the prosecution is the provision of care to people opposing the state, such as political protestors, non-state armed groups, or groups listed as terrorists.

-In yet other contexts, healthcare professionals face administrative sanctions (e.g, suspension), harassment, or intimidation for fulfilling their duty of providing medical care.”

“As set out in the recommendations of the UN Secretary General to implement resolution 2286, states should ensure coherence and consistency of domestic legislation applying to healthcare personnel, including counter-terror and criminal laws, with international human rights and humanitarian law. They should protect access of all people to healthcare and prohibit the punishment of health professionals for providing it.”

Buissonniere M, Woznick S, Rubenstein L, Hannah J. The Criminalization of Healthcare. June 2018. [cited 2019 Nov 24]. Available from: https://www1.essex.ac.uk/hrc/documents/54198-criminalization-of-healthcare-web.pdf