Ban Calls on UN Security Council for Decisive Steps to End Attacks on Hospitals, Medical Staff

Denouncing a surge in "horrific attacks" on hospitals, clinics and medical staff, most recently in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the Security Council to take decisive steps to end such obvious war crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable. 
"Failure to act is an affront to our shared humanity. It undermines States' legal obligations and the multilateral system as a whole," he told the 15-member body at the start of a debate on the protection and health care facilities caught in armed conflict, noting that nearly 600 such attacks between 2014 and 2015 killed 959 people and injured more than 1,500. 
"Most heinously, such attacks are often deliberate, to aggravate suffering and force people from contested territory," he said, stressing that international law is clear that medical workers, facilities and transports must be protected and the wounded and sick, civilians and fighters alike, must be spared. 
He urged the international community to overcome divisions and meet its responsibilities to prevent and reduce conflict and to build peace and stability. 

Sourc : QNA