Adopted by the 191st WMA Council Session, Prague, April 2012

The WMA recognises that attacks on health care facilities, health care workers and patients are an increasingly common problem and the WMA Council denounces all such attacks in any country.

These often occur during armed conflict and also in other situations of violence, including protests against the state.  Patients, including those injured during protests, often come from the poorest and most marginalised parts of the community and suffer a higher proportion of serious health problems than those from wealthier backgrounds.

Governments have an obligation to ensure that health care facilities and those working in them can operate in safety and without interference either from state or non-state actors, and to protect those receiving care.

Where services are not available to patients due to government action or inaction, the government, not the health practitioners, should be held responsible.

Noting that recent and ongoing conflicts in Bahrain and Syria have seen physicians, other health care personnel and their patients attacked while in health care facilities, the WMA demands:

That states fulfill their obligations to all their citizens and residents, including political protestors, patients and health care workers, and protect health care facilities and their occupants from interference, intimidation or attack.
That governments enter into meaningful negotiations wherever such attacks are possible, likely or already occurring to stop the attacks and protect the institutions and their occupants, and
That governments consider how they can contribute positively to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross on promoting the safety of health care provision through awareness of the concepts within their project Health Care in Danger.

Adopted as a Council Resolution by the 189th WMA Council Session, Montevideo, Uruguay, October 2011 and
adopted by the 62nd WMA General Assembly, Montevideo, Uruguay, October 2011
and rescinded and archived by the 75th WMA General Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, October 2024

The WMA General Assembly notes that

A number of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals in the Kingdom of Bahrain were arrested in March 2011 after the civil unrest in that country and tried under emergency powers before a special court, led by a military judge.  Twenty of this group were found guilty of a number of charges, on 29 September 2011 and sentenced to fifteen, ten or five years imprisonment.

These trials failed to meet international standards for fair trials, including the accused not being allowed to make statements in their own defence, and their lawyers not being allowed to question all the witnesses.  Allegations from the accused and their lawyers of mistreatment, abuse and other human right violations during arrest and while in detention have not been investigated.

While various criminal charges were brought it appears that the major offence was treating all the patients who presented for care, including leaders and members of the rebellion. Other charges appear to be closely related to providing such treatment and were, in any case, not proven to the standard expected in court proceedings. In treating patients without considering the circumstances of their injury these health care professionals were honouring their ethical duty as set out in the Declaration of Geneva.

The WMA welcomes the announcement by the government of Bahrain of 6 October 2011 that all twenty will be re-tried before a full civil court.

Therefore, the WMA requires that no doctor or other health care professional be arrested, accused or tried for treating patients, regardless of the origins of the patient’s injury or illness.

The WMA demands that all states understand, respect and honour the concept of medical neutrality. This includes providing working conditions which are as safe as possible, even under difficult circumstances, including armed conflict or civil unrest.

The WMA expects that if any individual, including health care professionals, are subject to trial that there is due process of law including during arrest, questioning and trial in accordance with the highest standards of international law.

The WMA demands that states investigate any allegations of torture or cruel and inhumane treatment by prisoners against its agents, and act quickly to stop such abuses.

The WMA recommends that independent international assessors are allowed to observe the trials and meet privately with the accused, so that the state of Bahrain can prove to the watching world that the future legal proceedings follow fair process.

The WMA recognises that health care workers and health care facilities are increasingly under attack during wars, conflicts and civil unrest.  We demand that states throughout the world recognise, respect and honour principles of medical neutrality and their duty to protect health care institutions and facilities for humanitarian reasons.