Section 10: Attacks on Hospitals
During 2018, Mwatana for Human Rights documented 16 attacks on hospitals, healthcare centers, and medical personnel. The armed group Ansar Allah (Houthis) was responsible for four incidents in the governorates of Taizz and Ibb. While the Popular Resistance “Abu Abbas Brigades” and the armed group of the 62nd Brigade are responsible for 7 incidents in Taizz governorate, while Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula bears responsibility for one incident, while “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” and ” Abu Abbas Brigades” bear joint responsibility for Another incident in Taizz governorate. The Saudi/UAE-led Coalition is responsible for two incidents in the governorates of The Capital Secretariat (Sana’a) and Hajjah. “Mwatana” was unable to identify the violator in one incident in Al Hudaydah.
Repeated attacks on hospitals across conflicts, including Yemen, are a serious challenge to the credibility of the laws governing armed conflict themselves, yet impunity reigns. Attacks on hospitals and the killing of medical personnel further endangers civilians living through war. In a context like Yemen, where so many of the country’s health facilities are already damaged or destroyed, these attacks further undermine the ability of civilians to receive even basic healthcare.
Legal Framework
Hospitals, clinics, medical centers and other medical units have special protection under international humanitarian law. Hospitals lose their protection from attack only if they are being used, outside their humanitarian function, to commit “acts harmful to the enemy.” Even if a hospital is being used by an opposing force to commit acts harmful to the enemy, for example to store weapons, shelter combatants capable of fighting or to launch attacks, the attacking force must issue a warning to the opposing party to cease the misuse of the medical facility, set a reasonable period of time for the misuse to end, and attack only if and after the warning has gone unheeded.
International humanitarian law also requires that medical personnel, like doctors and nurses, and those in charge of searching for, collecting, transporting and treating the wounded, are permitted to function and are protected. They lose their protection only if they commit acts harmful to the enemy, outside their humanitarian functions. Punishing a person for performing medical duties in line with medical ethics or compelling a person to engage in medical activities contrary to medical ethics is prohibited. Medical transportation, like ambulances, must also be permitted to function and be protected. They lose their protection only if they are being used to commit acts harmful to the enemy.
International humanitarian law obliges parties to a conflict to respect and protect humanitarian relief personnel, including from harassment, intimidation and arbitrary detention. Parties to the conflict must also allow and facilitate the rapid passage of humanitarian aid and not arbitrarily interfere with it, and ensure humanitarian workers freedom of movement, which can only be restricted temporarily for imperative military necessity.
Under the Rome Statute, intentionally directing attacks against buildings, materials, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law is a war crime, as is intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives.
Case Studies
- On Friday, 28 April 2018, at about 10:30 pm, Saudi/UAE-led Coalition aircraft bombed the National Center for Blood Transfusion and Research on the campus of 70 St. Hospital in Al Sabeen district of the Capital Secretariat (Sana’a).
The bomb did not detonate, but it went through the roof of the building and the concrete floor, destroying the water network. The rising water levels caused an electrical malfunction, which destroyed a number of medical machines and equipment. The Center was rendered partially in operational. The center’s operations resumed completely four days after the airstrike. The center provides medical services to 2,000 to 2,900 cases every month, according to the Center’s manager.[1]
- On Wednesday, 8 August 2018, at around 1 pm, groups of armed men from the Abu Al Abbas Brigades (a Salafi group supported by the UAE) in the city of Taizz carried out an armed attack on the Al Jumhoori Teaching Hospital in Al Qahirah district of Taizz governorate. They attacked again a few days later.
Witnesses said that Abu Al Abbas’ armed militiamen came to the hospital claiming they were bringing in some of their fighters wounded during clashes with units from military forces loyal to President Hadi. After they entered the hospital, armed men from the Abu Al Abbas Brigades took up positions on the roofs of the hospital buildings and began shooting at the doors. They closed the warehouses and doctor’s rooms, and looted the warehouses, taking medical supplies and equipment, medicine, and doctors’ belongings. The attack sparked panic and fear amongst the patients in the hospital, their visitors, and the doctors and nurses, many of whom ran away from the hospital during the attack following threats from the armed men.
The hospital shut down all operations following the attack, reopening on the morning of Saturday, 11 August 2018.[2] At about noon that day, on 11 August 2018, the armed men returned to the hospital and raided it, firing shots at the emergency ward, the O.B.-G.Y.N. ward, and the kidney dialysis center. A person visiting a patient and a hospital security guard were killed and three other members of the security team were wounded. The hospital was left only partially operational, due to damage.[3]
- On Thursday, 16 August 2018, at around 11:30 am, a shell, thought to be an anti-aircraft shell, hit the intensive care unit of Al Thawrah General Hospital in Salah district of Taizz governorate.
Shrapnel from the shell wounded a person visiting a patient, as well as a nurse and security guard. Witnesses believed the shell was shot from Al Salal Hill, under the control of Ansar Allah (Houthis) on the outskirts of the city.[4]
Correction: Date of the National Center for Blood Transfusion incident has been updated to reflect the correct date.
[1] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with eyewitnesses, 29 April 2018
[2] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with eyewitnesses, 11 August 2018
[3] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with eyewitnesses, 14 August 2018
[4] Mwatana for Human Rights’ interview with eyewitnesses, 26 August 2018