“The right to health is a fundamental part of our human rights and our understanding of what it means to enjoy a life with dignity.”

What does the right to health look like during situations of conflict, where both healthcare needs increase, but access to healthcare facilities as well as delivery of healthcare services may be significantly limited? Should civilians and fighters both be entitled to health care? Who should be prioritized? 

International Humanitarian Law and the protections that it affords sets out important protections for healthcare, and in fact protection of the injured, wounded and sick was one of, if not the central notion behind the development of modern international humanitarian law. 

This lecture will look at why the discussion on the right to heath must always take into account international humanitarian law, and will also discuss a range of current contextual and structural challenges: including discussing the increase in attacks against healthcare facilities and some of the structural limitations of IHL when it comes to addressing mental health as well as disability rights. The lecture will make the case that IHL is an essential normative framework for all right to health advocates to become comfortable with, as without applying and demanding the respect for IHL, the enjoyment of a life in dignity will remain elusive for so many.