Human Rights Watch: Attacks on Healthcare Persist Despite UN Resolution 2286

On May 29, 2026, Human Rights Watch reported that attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers continue at an alarming rate, ten years after the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2286 to protect health care in armed conflict.

Resolution 2286, which was unanimously adopted on May 3, 2016, obligates member states to prevent and address attacks on health care. According to Human Rights Watch, member states have failed to meet these obligations, and leaders have flouted international laws and norms.

A new report by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC)—an international group of academic and nongovernmental organizations, including Human Rights Watch—documented 2,546 reported incidents of attacks on health across 33 countries in 2025.

Of those 2025 incidents, 936 involved the arrest, kidnapping, or killing of aid and health workers. An additional 790 incidents affected healthcare infrastructure, including clinics and hospitals. The coalition noted that these attacks caused interconnected, system-wide impacts across all conflict settings.

The SHCC report found that state forces carried out the majority of these attacks. This finding was echoed in a May 7, 2026, report released by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, which highlighted that state actors have driven a significant increase in violence against health care since 2016.

On May 19, 2026, civil society groups and representatives of UN member states met in New York to renew commitments to reduce attacks on health care and acknowledge existing gaps in accountability.

Regional Impacts of Healthcare Attacks

Human Rights Watch has documented unlawful attacks on health care for over 25 years, noting that the harm extends long after conflicts end.

In Ukraine, Russian forces have increased attacks on health care, affecting more than 2,665 personnel and facilities. Human Rights Watch reported that authorities have also restricted access to health care to coerce residents into accepting Russian passports as part of an effort to impose Russian administrative structures and law in occupied areas.

In Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces have targeted water facilities and hospitals. The warring parties have targeted humanitarian workers and obstructed the movement of aid. In August 2025, an armed assault inside a facility forced Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) to shut down one of its hospitals in Darfur during an active cholera outbreak. A subsequent attack on Al Deain Teaching Hospital in East Darfur in March 2026 killed at least 64 people and injured dozens more.

In Gaza, repeated unlawful attacks by Israeli authorities on medical personnel and facilities resulted in the complete collapse of the healthcare system. Human Rights Watch noted that the intentional destruction of sanitation and water infrastructure has left tens of thousands of Palestinians, primarily children, suffering from water-borne illnesses.

In Myanmar, the military junta has decimated the healthcare system since the 2021 coup, obstructing access to medical services and goods, particularly in opposition-controlled areas. These unlawful attacks impeded emergency efforts to respond to an earthquake in March 2025 that left thousands injured and dead.

In Syria, the Assad government and Russian forces made the unlawful targeting of personnel and health facilities a defining feature of a war lasting nearly 14 years, leaving the country’s healthcare system with long-lasting negative consequences.

Infrastructure and Legal Protections

Beyond direct attacks on clinics, Human Rights Watch stated that Iran, Israel, and the United States have struck civilian infrastructure critical to health, including bridges, desalination plants, and electrical power plants.

Under international law, medical transportation units, such as ambulances, as well as healthcare personnel and hospitals, are granted special protected status. This status is only lost if the facilities or personnel are used to commit acts harmful to the opposing party outside of their humanitarian function. Even in such cases, attacks may be unlawful if they are disproportionate or indiscriminate.

International law also prohibits the targeting of water and electricity installations essential to the survival of a population.

Human Rights Watch asserted that such attacks violate international human rights law, specifically the right to health. This includes core minimum obligations that cannot be justified even during conflict, such as nondiscriminatory access to essential medicines, food, shelter, safe potable water, sanitation, and health facilities.

Resolution 2286 sets out clear obligations to protect healthcare workers and facilities in armed conflict and to adhere to international law. A decade later, member states have not only failed to meet these obligations but leaders are apparently comfortable flouting laws and norms. Accountability requires more than resolutions. It requires consequences. Julia Bleckner, senior researcher in the Global Health Initiative at Human Rights Watch

Recommended Actions

Human Rights Watch called on all governments to take urgent action to comply with Resolution 2286 and international law. The organization recommended several specific measures:

• Integrating practical measures to ensure respect for international law into military training and doctrine.
• Improving the collection of data regarding threats to and attacks on health care.
• Expanding domestic laws to incorporate legal obligations under humanitarian and international human rights law.
• Restricting the export and sale of arms to known violators.
• Regularly reporting on actions taken to comply with legal obligations.

Even in war, the right to health endures. The evidence of attacks on health care in conflict is overwhelming. The only question is whether countries will act or remain silent and allow such attacks to continue with impunity. Julia Bleckner, senior researcher in the Global Health Initiative at Human Rights Watch