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Resolution 4: Health Care in Danger: Continuing to protect the delivery of health care together

Report on resolution 4:

– Date: 31.07.2019

– Country: Belgium

– Type of entity:  National Society

Which measures have you put in place in order to enhance the secure functioning of health care facilities and medical transport? 
Raising awareness can be considered as a first step in enhancing the secure functioning of health care. In that sense: The Belgian Red Cross raised the HCiD issue in its IHL training activities or information sessions: military personnel (including medical component), students, humanitarian actors, general public, civil medical personnel….; At several opportunities, the National Society also raised awareness on the issue towards the media and general public (newsletters on IHL, interviews, etc…). We also participated in the campaign of the ICRC #WeAreNotATarget on social media in February 2017. // At the international level, the Belgian Red Cross co-signed and supported the open letter prepared in May 2016 by the ICRC, following the adoption of the UNSC Resolution 2286 on Health Care in armed conflict.

Which concrete actions have you conducted to collect and analyze data related to violence against health care? How did you use this information to develop practical measures to address such violence? 
No concrete actions regarding data collection were conducted since no specific incident or problem related to the delivery of health care was observed in Belgium during the period covered by the current report.

What decisions have you taken to enhance your staff and volunteers’ understanding of the rights and responsibilities of health care personnel? In addition, have you implemented concrete measures (e.g. Safer Access Framework) to ensure the safety of health care delivery?
HCiD is a priority theme in the IHL program. The Belgian Red Cross raised the HCiD issue in its IHL training activities or information sessions for its staff members.

As an auxiliary to your government, which activities have you initiated to promote, advocate for, and address the issue of violence against health care with your government?
According to a cooperation agreement concluded in 2012 in the area of training between the Ministry of Defence and the Belgian Red Cross, the two partners met each year in order to agree upon an action plan. his plan of action provides several training activities of IHL, including since 2016, a possible cooperation between the National Society and the medical component of the Defence to implement Resolution 4 of the 32nd International Conference and the Belgian pledge on training of the medical personnel (SP320115). This led to a first cooperation in November 2018, when Belgian Red Cross provided a IHL module, including a section on rights and responsibilities of medical personnel and the challenges in the protection of medical personnel, towards several groups of officers and underofficers of the medical component of the Belgian armed forces. // According to the joint pledge adopted by Belgium and the Belgian Red Cross on strengthening the domestic normative framework on the protection of health-care personnel and facilities (SP320116), an ad hoc working group dedicated to the analysis of the domestic normative framework was created in 2018 in the framework of the National IHL Committee and on the initiative of the National Society. It has started the analysis of the domestic normative framework in order to identify the potential gaps before suggesting potential legislative and/or administrative measures. Representatives of the National Society and of the Ministries of Public Health, Defence, Home Affairs and Justice are part of this group.