|
Doctors,
nurses and all health professionals, drivers, hospital administrative
personnel, as well as ambulances, facilities and equipment that make part
of the medical mission have been objects of actions by different armed
conflict actors. According to the Ministry of Health, between 1998 and
June 2002 there were 384 cases of infractions against the Medical Mission,
of which 88,8%, or 341, were attacks against life and personal integrity,
such as homicide, threats and retention. Rural doctors and other health
professionals have been the object of intimidation related to their professional
duties, forcing them to leave conflict zones.
|
INFRACTIONS
TO IHL AGAINST MEDICAL MISSION - 1998-2002
|
 |
Source:
Ministry of Health
Processed by the Observatory of the Presidential Program for Human
Rights and IHL, Vicepresidency of the Republic. |
The
Ministry of Health registry shows that between January 2001 and August
20, 2002, there have been 35 cases of attacks against medical missions
nationwide. The Office of the Ombudsman received 17 complaints related
to infractions against the medical mission between January 2000 and April
2002. According to information from the Logbook of the Human Rights Observatory,
at the Vice-Presidency of the Republic, from January 2001 to 20 August
of 2002, 33 cases of attacks against medical missions have been registered
in different places of the country by paramilitary groups and specially
by subversive groups. They include the murder of those wounded in conflict
and the kidnapping and homicide of health professionals, attacks against
hospitals and vehicles including their theft and destruction, as well
as disrespect for humanitarian aid groups. This serious situation goes
against the entire IHL, born from the necessity to give timely care and
protection to the victims of armed conflict. Recurrence of these actions
of disrespect towards humanitarian minimum standards shows the level of
degradation reached by the confrontation in Colombia.
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INFRACTIONS
OF IHL AGAINST MEDICAL MISSION - 1998-2002
|
| Type
of Infraction |
Number
of cases
|
%
of category
|
| AGAINST
LIFE AND INTEGRITY OF HEALTH PERSONNEL |
341
|
|
| Threats
against health personnel. |
279
|
81,8
|
| Homicide
of health personnel. |
32
|
9,4
|
| Non-lethal
attacks against health personnel. |
2
|
0,6
|
| Designation
of health personnel as military objective. |
2
|
0,6
|
| Retention
of health personnel. |
25
|
7,3
|
| Armed personnel
entering health units. |
1
|
0,3
|
| ATTACKS
AGAINST HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE |
39
|
|
| Designation
of health units as military objectives. |
|
|
| Attack
against health care units. |
20
|
51,3
|
| Looting
of medication, supplies and equipment from health care units. |
2
|
5,1
|
| Attacks
against health transportation. |
8
|
20,4
|
| Theft of
health transportation. |
7
|
17,9
|
| Theft of
medications, supplies and equipment in the road. |
2
|
5,1
|
| AGAINST
MEDICAL MISSION |
0
|
|
| Using transportation
means for guerrilla actions |
|
|
| Using health
personnel identification for guerrilla actions |
|
|
| AGAINST
PROFESSIONAL SECRET |
0
|
|
| Forcing
the revelation of protected information |
|
|
| Punishing
the licit revelation of information |
|
|
| ACTS
OF PERFIDY |
4
|
|
| Restricting
transit of medications, equipment and foodstuffs. |
4
|
100
|
| Restricting
and/or prohibiting the supply of health services. |
|
|
| Forcing
care in inadequate conditions. |
|
|
| Disrespecting
medical priorities. |
|
|
| TOTAL |
384
|
|
|
| Source.
Ministry of Health. |
Also,
in the context of an increased armed confrontation in rural areas, it
is important to draw attention to a decrease in the implementation of
some preventive health programs such as vaccination and disease control.
The constant blockades and threats against health personnel and civilian
population endanger the survival of the wounded and ill as they prevent
the adequate mobilization of ambulances; the offering of health services
is affected and Colombians are prevented from enjoying their right to
health. In addition, the conflict´s prolongation brings about a
reduction in the possibility of assigning budget resources to health.
|
Asome
cases of IHLinfractions against the medical mission and health personnel in the colombian conflict
July 2001 to 30 August 2002
|
2001
|
SITUATION |
| 23 July |
Threat
against health promoter at San Juanito Hospital, municipality
of Mercaderes, Cauca. |
| 26 July |
Threats
against Balboa Cauca Health Center assistant and his family
if he failed to pay 20 million pesos. |
| 8 August |
In Barbosa,
Santander, three persons who had been previously wounded in
an attack committed by a group of armed men against the customers
of Gatonegro Bar, were finished off when they were being sent
to Bucaramanga in a local hospital ambulance. |
| 13 August |
In Saravena,
Arauca, a commando of ten hooded men arrived at the San Ricardo
Pampure Hospital, removed patient Vellanith Mendoza, who was
recovering there from a previous murder attempted, and killed
her. |
| 27 September |
In Albania,
Caquetá, a column of FARC guerrilla members retained
an International Committee of the Red Cross vehicle and used
it to carry rebels and wounded, as informed by the Army. |
| 5 October |
Stealing
of a Toyota double cabin vehicle, licence plate No. OKC 171,
belonging to La Merced hospital, Primavera district, municipality
of Amagá, Antioquia. |
| 9 November |
Oscar Daniel
Mosquera, nurse assistant at Patia Health Station, El Bordo
Local Hospital, in Cauca, was declared a military objective. |
| 2002 |
SITUATION |
| 1 January |
Threat
against nurse assistants María Josefa López Holguín,
Gilma Rodríguez and Sandra Milena Perdomo of the Local
Hospital of municipality of Milán, Caquetá department. |
| 3 January |
In the
rural zone of Alto del Palmar district, in Santuario , Risaralda,
a group of armed men stopped an ambulance which was carrying
24-year-old Bernardo Antonio Cárdenas Aguirre from Cocorná
to Rionegro hospital, who had been previously wounded from gunshot.
The group of unidentified men forced Cardenas off the vehicle
and shot him. |
| 11 January |
Death threat
against doctors Luis Eduardo González Jaramillo and Elmer
Muñoz, employees of San Carlos Hospital, municipality
of Silvia, Cauca departament. |
| 20 February |
Four persons,
including a newborn child, died when the ambulance carrying
them fell into the Las Playas reservoir, located between the
municipalities of San Carlos and San Rafael, Antioquia department,
after Farc blew up the La Dantica bridge. Besides the driver,
who was left with injuries, the baby, his mother, a relative
and a nurse were also travelling in the ambulance. |
| February |
Doctor
Cristóbal Pavón was murdered in El Jordán
district, municipality of San Carlos, Antioquia department. |
| 20 March |
Four people,
including a pregnant woman, died in a rural road in San Carlos
municipality, Antioquia department, some 120 kilometers from
Medellín, when a hand grenade was thrown, apparently
by Farc guerrillas, at the ambulance carrying the woman. |
| 20 March |
Three persons
received gun wounds in an ambulance. Two other people died in
the same events. |
| 22 March |
In the
municipality of San Francisco, Antioquia department, men apparently
from the National Liberation Army, stopped an ambulance and
murdered teacher Ernesto Alfonso Giraldo Martínez, who
had been previously wounded. |
| 18 April |
Murder
of vaccinator Jhon Fredy Marín and forced displacement
of Oral Hygiene Assistant Olga Rueda Cubillos, and nurse assistant
Virgelinda Diaz Triana, from Local Hospital of municipality
of Curillo, Caquetá department. |
| 21 April |
During
the attack by Farc against the police station at El Paujil,
Caqueta department, the hospital suffered damages as a result
of several explosive cylinders hitting the health installation. |
| 7 May |
Terrorist
attack causing serious wounds to driver and considerable damages
to ambulance from Currillo Hospital, Caquetá, when they
were driving towards the city of Florencia. |
| 13 May |
Assassination
of patient Jorge Iván Serna Beltrán inside an
ambulance from El Buen Samaritano Hospital, as he was being
taken from El Doncello municipality in Caquetá,department,
towards Florencia, provoking damages in the interior and exterior
back sections of the vehicle. |
| 18 May |
Theft of
an ambulance from the University Hospital of the City of Neiva.
They abandoned it after crashing it and removing the communication
radio and loudspeaker cables, in the municipality of Villavieja,
Huila department. |
| 24 May |
In San
Pablo, Bolívar, guerrilla members from Farc kidnapped
a medical commission advancing towards the Alto Cañabraval
district in a measles vaccination campaign. Three days later,
on 27 May, they were freed |
| 24 May |
Retention
of an ambulance from Eduardo Santos Hospital, municipality of
La Unión, Nariño department. They took away its
oxygen tanks. |
| 28 May |
In the
site known as La Niña, between the municipalities of
Doncello and Paujil, Caquetá, subversives from Front
15 of Farc stole two ambulances, apparently in order to carry
several combatants wounded in clashes with Army troops. |
| 5 June |
Retention
of Metrosalud ambulance and its driver for approximately 15
minutes, in the city of Medellín, Antioquia. |
| 20 June |
Murder
of nurse assistant at the La Italia district health station,
Municipality of San José del Palmar, Chocó. |
| 9 July |
In La Samaritana
Hospital, in south Bogotá, 27-year-old doctor José
Amiro Gnecco Martínez, son of former governor of Cesar
department Lucas Gnecco, was kidnapped by a group of unidentified
armed men. |
| 10 July |
In the
Inírida - Barrancominas, Guainía road, three nurses
from the departmental service were kidnapped by a group of unidentified
armed men. |
| 17 July |
On the
road from Cambao district in the municipality of San Juan de
Rioseco, Cundinamarca, Rubiela Mateus Arévalo, a woman
who was being carried in an ambulance, was murdered inside the
vehicle by Farc guerrilla members. |
| 23 July |
In the
Santa Rosalía sector, municipality of Zona Bananera,
Magdalena, doctor Adolfo Valle Restrepo, working for the Social
Security Institute of Fundación , Magdalena, was kidnapped
in an illegal roadblock by guerrilla members from Front 19 of
Farc. |
| 27 July |
In the
rural zone of Cravo Norte, Arauca, an ambulance driver carrying
medications was murdered by ELN guerrilla members. The report
from the XVIII Army Brigade informs how a group of insurgents
intercepted the ambulance and after forcing the driver off the
vehicle, killed him in the roadside. |
| 17 August |
Inside
the Miranda, Cauca health center, presumed members of the self-defense
groups murdered 50-year-old Amparo Figueroa. |
28 August
|
Attack
against a health promoter when she was going to a vaccination
session and theft of two thermos containing biological material
to carry out vaccinations in the municipality of Morales, Bolívar. |
|
| Sources:
Department of Emergencies and Disasters, Ministry of Health. Office
of the Defender of the People, Complaints Section, Resolution 014
and Press Logbook, Human Rights Observatory. Presidential Program
of HR and IHL. Vicepresidency of the Republic. |
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