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	What is the cost for killing humanitarians? by Chris Lockyear Secretary General, Medecins Sans Frontieres   On 3 May, we at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) woke to shock, grief, and outrage. Our hospital in Old Fangak, South Sudan, had been attacked: a helicopter gunship destroyed the pharmacy, shelling followed, and drones bombed the market. Patients and staff fled as shrapnel tore through hospital. It was terrifying – and a clear violation of international humanitarian law.   These same emotions ran through us with the news of two other horrific mass attacks that killed medical workers in recent weeks.   On 23 March, the Israeli military in Gaza killed 15 people, including eight staff from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).   Eight days later, their bodies and destroyed vehicles were discovered in a mass grave. Videos showed the attack was deliberately carried out on clearly identified medical staff and ambulances.   On 11 April, in Zamzam displacement camp, in Sudan’s North Darfur region, nine medical workers from the humanitarian organisation Relief International were ruthlessly killed as Rapid Support Forces soldiers entered a clinic – the last one still running – during their assault on the camp.   These are just the latest, and particularly shocking, examples of attacks against medical and humanitarian workers worldwide. We’ve also seen horrific attacks in Ukraine, in Haiti, in Democratic Republic of Congo, among others.   Whether they directly target staff or hospitals from MSF, or from other organisations, we – humanitarians – feel attacked. We share the grief of all medical and humanitarian colleagues who work alongside us, acting with the same urgency to care for sick and injured people.   These recent assaults on humanitarian and medical workers are exceptionally grave – not only for their brutality and toll, but for the profound indifference that followed.   Aside from statements by the United Nations and isolated calls from some states – like the UK’s request for investigations into attacks in Gaza, or France’s response after the strike on Old Fangak’s hospital – there is no shared global outrage.   There is no strong political momentum, and certainly no concrete action against the perpetrators. Verbal condemnations ring hollow without real consequences.   It almost feels futile to ask the question: what is preventing this from happening again – even tomorrow?   All such attacks should be met with strong, unequivocal condemnation. We should expect emotion, mobilisation, and strong reaction. Independent investigations should be launched automatically to identify those responsible, and existing laws and international conventions applied – their enforcement should not be up for negotiation or compromise.   Justice should be delivered to the families and the colleagues of the victims, and concrete pressure applied to political stakeholders who tolerate, enable, or even actively encourage, such attacks.   Nearly four years on from the brutal killing of our three colleagues in Tigray, Ethiopia, the Ethiopian authorities have failed to conduct a credible, transparent, impartial, or timely investigation.   In the absence of a meaningful international response, it seems to us that carrying out these attacks is increasingly cost-free for the perpetrators. What political, legal, economic, social, or moral price are they paying?   And what state, body, or institution is truly ready and committed to hold them accountable?   It should be unthinkable that killing humanitarians or medical staff – people risking their lives to deliver care – comes with little or no consequence.   This isn’t only about preserving the feasibility of our work; it’s about defending fundamental values like solidarity and empathy.   Let me be clear: attacks on healthcare staff and aid workers are not new. We don’t yearn for a mythical “golden age” where our work was universally respected, or our security guaranteed. On the contrary, MSF has consistently denounced such attacks and called for change.   In 2016, after a wave of assaults on our staff – including the US bombing of Kunduz hospital in Afghanistan – and amid systematic campaigns against hospitals in Syria and Yemen, we supported the adoption of UN resolution 2286, aimed at protecting the wounded and sick, medical personnel, and humanitarian workers in armed conflict. But since then, we have seen its impact remain disastrously limited.   We are not alone in this fight. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continues to lead its “Healthcare in Danger” campaign.   In 2024, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2730 – initiated by Switzerland – calling on all states to respect and protect humanitarian workers. That same year, an interministerial group from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, and the UK issued a joint statement committing to develop a new Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel.   However, the collective effort has so far failed. We have not seen the transparency, accountability, and change that should be expected. It is rare to even obtain basic acknowledgement from the perpetrators.   The death and injury of medical and humanitarian workers are often part of a broader, equally shocking and intolerable pattern of indiscriminate – and even deliberate – violence against the communities they serve.   In Gaza, more than 52,000 people have been killed since 7 October 2023, according to local authorities. In Sudan, it is impossible to have a realistic estimate of the civilian death toll, though studies suggest it may number in the hundreds of thousands.   Today, in the face of an unprecedented assault on multilateral organisations, the United Nations, and legal institutions – exemplified by the growing number of countries opposing the International Criminal Court – it is not merely a lack of political pressure or justice, but a deliberate dismantling of the very channels for accountability and change.   We call on all those who still believe in humanity and solidarity to strongly condemn these attacks. We need them, wherever they are, to unite and rally around renewed calls for legal and political accountability.   Citizens must demand that states who claim to uphold international conventions and treaties take tangible political action and apply political pressure to stop to the normalisation and concealment of attacks against health staff and humanitarian workers – in Gaza, in Sudan, South Sudan, and around the world.   Now, more than ever, we need warring parties – as well as the states who politically, economically, or militarily support them – to recognise that attacking and killing humanitarians is an assault on the very values they stand for. Killing humanitarian workers should not just be costly – it should be utterly unaffordable.   http://www.msf.org/what-cost-killing-humanitarians http://healthcluster.who.int/newsroom/news/item/19-08-2025-an-urgent-call-to-action-from-the-global-health-cluster http://safeguarding-health.com/ignoring-red-lines-shcc-2022-report/ http://www.worldhumanitarianday.org/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165715 Visit the related web page
	Lebanon: 5 years without justice for port explosion by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch   Lebanese authorities have yet to deliver truth and justice for the victims and their families five years after the devastating Beirut port explosion on 4 August 2020, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. It is imperative to conduct a comprehensive and unobstructed investigation that establishes the full chain of responsibility.   The blast, which killed at least 236 people, injured over 7,000, and devastated vast areas of the capital, was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.   Despite repeated domestic and international calls for accountability over the past five years, Lebanese authorities have failed to complete an effective, independent, and impartial investigation into the explosion.   The resumption of the domestic investigation in 2025 after a two-year suspension has yet to yield conclusive results. The investigation has been marred by persistent obstruction and interference by political leaders and state officials determined to evade justice. For the victims’ families, this prolonged denial of accountability is an unbearable burden.   “Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Reina Wehbi, Amnesty International’s Lebanon Campaigner. “The families of those killed and injured in the Beirut explosion have waited an intolerable five years. They must not be forced to endure another year of impunity. The time for justice, accountability, and truth is now.”   Rather than facilitating the investigation, several politicians and senior officials summoned by lead investigative judge, Tarek Bitar, including generals, judges, members of parliament, and former ministers, have consistently sought to derail it. They have refused to attend questioning sessions, invoking various forms of immunity, and opened a barrage of legal challenges against Judge Bitar that have repeatedly suspended the inquiry.   In January 2023, when Judge Bitar attempted to revive the stalled investigation after a two-year suspension, Lebanon’s then–public prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat—who had been charged by Bitar—responded by filing a lawsuit against him, effectively suspending the investigation once again. Oueidat also ordered the release of the suspects who had been held in pre-trial detention since the explosion and instructed security forces and the Public Prosecution Office to cease all cooperation with the judge.   In February 2025, following yet another two-year hiatus, Judge Bitar resumed the investigation by summoning additional employees and officials implicated in the explosion. The move came amid renewed political pledges by newly elected President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to uphold the rule of law and ensure justice for the port explosion victims.   The move was enabled in March, when the interim top prosecutor, Jamal Hajjar, overturned the measures imposed by his predecessor that had effectively frozen the investigation. Some of those summoned, such as former Prime Minister Hassan Diab, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, and Major General Tony Saliba, complied and appeared for questioning for the first time in years.   However, other officials, including two members of parliament, Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaiter, and Oueidat, the former prosecutor, have continued to obstruct the investigation by refusing to submit to questioning.   The Lebanese authorities should ensure a comprehensive and unobstructed investigation, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said. It is imperative for this inquiry to thoroughly establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the explosion, encompassing the full chain of responsibility—whether domestic or international—and determining whether any criminal acts or human rights violations occurred due to the state’s failure to protect lives.   The authorities also need to take all necessary measures to guarantee that the investigation can be completed without undue interference or obstruction from political leaders, state officials, or suspects in the case.   This includes guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary and adopting essential amendments to Lebanon’s civil and criminal procedures codes to address provisions that have been exploited to obstruct criminal and civil investigations.   Despite the resumption of the investigation, the road to justice remains littered with political and legal challenges, Amnesty International and Human Right Watch said. The Lebanese authorities should swiftly remove the barriers that have repeatedly blocked the investigation and ensure that it proceeds without political interference.   A 2021 investigation by Human Rights Watch concluded that the explosion was a direct result of the Lebanese authorities’ failure to uphold their human rights obligations, particularly the right to life, and pointed to the possible involvement of senior officials.   Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other rights groups have consistently documented a range of procedural and systemic flaws within the domestic investigation. These flaws include pervasive political interference, granting immunity to high-level politicians, and failure to respect due process and fair trial standards.   Other countries have also repeatedly condemned the authorities’ blatant political interference in the domestic investigation, notably in a joint statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2023.   “Justice for the Beirut port explosion is not only about accountability for a single event,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon Researcher for Human Rights Watch. “It is a test of Lebanon’s promised commitment to the rule of law and human rights.”   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/lebanon-5-years-without-justice-for-port-explosion-victims-comprehensive-and-unobstructed-investigation-needed/   Sep. 2025   Sri Lanka is on the Front Line of the Battle for Accountability   For many people around the world, the memory of atrocities that shocked us is often overwritten a few years later by new horrors. But for survivors and the families of victims, the suffering never ends. Worse still, military and political leaders elsewhere — who might be considering atrocities of their own — are paying close attention. Unaddressed war crimes provide a dismal model for future atrocities.   Sri Lanka’s total defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, which cost tens of thousands of civilian lives, in what the United Nations found may constitute crimes against humanity, demonstrated utter disregard for the laws of war by both sides. Yet it is held up today by some Israeli military strategists as a campaign to be emulated. That is only possible because there were no consequences for the atrocities committed.   Successive Sri Lankan governments have shown that by pledging to uphold international law and then reneging on that promise, you can get away with anything. That’s why the U.N. Human Rights Council needs to keep demanding accountability and renew the mandate to collect evidence of international crimes committed in Sri Lanka at its current session this month in Geneva.   Sri Lanka’s civil war lasted 26 years, with both sides committing widespread violations, including attacks on civilians, extra-judicial killings, and enforced disappearances. In the final months of the war, the remnants of the LTTE and hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians were corralled by the Sri Lankan army in an ever-shrinking space.   While the LTTE used the civilians as human shields, the Sri Lankan army blocked humanitarian supplies and unilaterally declared one “safe zone” after another, before bombarding those same areas with airpower and artillery. Health facilities were repeatedly targeted. What happened in Sri Lanka 16 years ago, and went unpunished, were precursors to some of the tactics and abuses being used in Gaza today.   By 2009, Sri Lanka already had a long history of atrocities going unpunished. In the 1980s, a leftist uprising by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front, or JVP) led to the enforced disappearance and killing by the army of thousands of young people suspected of links to the insurgents.   Some of the army officers involved in that campaign, such as Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who went on to become defense secretary and later president, would be implicated in later atrocities.   About 20 mass graves have been discovered so far around Sri Lanka, relating to both the JVP uprising and the civil war with the LTTE.   Typically, they are uncovered by accident by construction workers, digging a foundation or laying a water pipe. The most recent mass grave to be reopened is at Chemmani, near Jaffna, in northern Sri Lanka, where the remains of over 200 people who are believed to have been killed in army custody in the 1990s were discovered this year, including a child with a school bag.   Victims’ families and human rights defenders at Chemmani, and throughout Sri Lanka, hope that the remains will be identified, the truth will be revealed, and those responsible held to account. But bitter experience gives them few grounds to be hopeful. Due to a lack of technical capacity or political will, no mass grave in Sri Lanka has yet been successfully investigated.   The families of the “disappeared” have been waiting for decades to learn what happened to their loved ones, much less see justice done. Those who campaign for answers face surveillance and intimidation from the security forces. A woman whose son was taken away by the army in 2008 and never came home told Human Rights Watch this summer that she had recently been questioned for three hours by counterterrorism police. “Sometimes they approach our children to get information about us. That is a type of threat,” she said.   The blanket impunity for international crimes, and flagrant harassment of people who demand justice, have led victims to lose faith in domestic mechanisms. U.N. action to uphold international law in Sri Lanka is essential. Since 2015, the U.N. Human Rights Council has passed a series of resolutions to support accountability. At first, Sri Lanka supported those resolutions, though the government did not fulfill its commitments. But in 2020, Sri Lanka withdrew from the process, preferring to uphold “war heroes” rather than hold alleged criminals accountable.   The Human Rights Council responded by creating the Sri Lanka Accountability Project, to collect evidence of international crimes committed in Sri Lanka that could be used to prosecute alleged perpetrators abroad or, if conditions improve in Sri Lanka, to support future prosecutions in Sri Lankan courts. The council also mandated the U.N. to monitor ongoing abuses.   That work remains vital – not just to protect human rights in Sri Lanka, but to challenge impunity everywhere. Without accountability, brutal military and political leaders across the world will conclude that to achieve their ends, mass slaughter “works.”   http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/16/sri-lanka-is-on-the-front-line-of-the-battle-for-accountability   Aug. 2025   Peru’s amnesty law breaches international human rights obligations, UN experts warn. (OHCHR)   UN human rights experts are appalled by the promulgation of an amnesty law for security forces for crimes committed in 1980-2000 on 13 August 2025 in Peru.   “This legislation breaches international standards by granting amnesty to members of the Armed Forces, the Peruvian National Police and Self-Defense Committees that are denounced, under investigation or prosecution for crimes committed between 1980 and 2000 and whose conviction verdicts are not final, as well as to individuals over 70 years of age who have already been convicted of such crimes.”   “International standards bar the application of amnesties or pardons to crimes against humanity and other gross human rights violations, including enforced disappearances. Such measures indeed create an unacceptable form of impunity and undermine decades of progress toward justice, truth, and reparations for victims,” the experts warned.   Law N° 32419 entered into force on 14 August 2025, violating international law, including the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which the country ratified on 26 September 2012, the Updated Set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity, and Peru’s obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights, ratified on 27 July 1977.   This came a year after the approval of Law No. 32107 of 9 August 2024, which introduced a statute of limitations for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed prior to 1 July 2002.   The experts reiterated that the non-applicability of statutory limitations to crimes against humanity is a peremptory norm of international law from which no derogation is permitted.   “The State must urgently reverse these setbacks in Peru’s pursuit of justice and reconciliation, and fully comply with its international obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish gross human rights violations and crimes under international law committed during the internal armed conflict, including enforced disappearances,” the experts said.   Amnesties, statutes of limitations and analogous legal concepts shall not restrict the right of access to justice of the victims of these crimes.   The experts also called on Peru to ensure that the widespread or systematic practice of enforced disappearance is fully recognised — in law and in practice — as a crime against humanity under international law. “Peru must guarantee that its legislation and policies reflect the continuing nature of enforced disappearances, and that the search for victims and investigations continue until the truth about their fate and whereabouts is fully established,” they added.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/08/perus-amnesty-law-breaches-international-human-rights-obligations-un-experts
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