Mesures prises:
In November 2020, the Czech Republic endorsed the Political declaration on protection of medical care in armed conflicts (2017), based on the UN Security council Resolution 2286 (2016). Consequently, the National Committee on Implementation of International Humanitarian Law (“National Committee”) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (“MFA”) provided an 18-months grant of approx. 70 000 EUR to the Institute of International Relations (an independent Czech public research institution) to draft an analysis on 1) the UN Security Council Res. 2286 (2016) and the right to health in armed conflict and 2) the Political declaration on protection of medical care in armed conflicts and its implementation in the Czech law. Both policy papers are available at the National Committee’s website.
The relevant rules of international law on protection of medical personnel and facilities in armed conflict are implemented on the statutory level as well as on the level of internal military regulations of the Czech Armed Forces. Based on the recent development, a new military regulation „Oper-1-9“, adopted in 2020, unified the main principles of the protection of medical facilities and personnel in military operations.
Protection of medical facilities and personnel in armed conflicts forms a fundamental part of IHL training provided within military instruction programmes on all levels of the Czech Armed Forces. Pre-deployment training of military units further focuses on the IHL principles. The Ministry of Defence organizes additional IHL courses, e.g. a comprehensive IHL course for members of the Armed Forces and Czech Red Cross IHL instructors, which is offered twice a year. In 2022, the Faculty of Military Medicine of the University of Defence launched a new course for Czech military medical personnel, which includes in-depth instruction in IHL rules linked to healthcare personnel, its facilities and transportation units, lectured by the Czech Red Cross representatives.
Based on the request of the Ministry of Health (“MOH”), the Czech Red Cross (“CRC”) has trained members of the Emergency Medical Team (54 people) in 8-hour courses focused on the basics of IHL for medical staff and ICRC recommendations for behavior of medical staff in areas of armed conflict or internal disturbances.
In 2023, the MOH in cooperation with the CRC has published a manual on Protection of medical workers, based on practical ICRC recommendations to enhance ambulance and pre-hospital services in risk situations. It explains rights and obligations of health workers under international humanitarian law and specifies concrete recommendations to eliminate risks to which the health workers may be exposed in the situation of armed conflict or internal disturbances (including a checklist of “to-do’s” and “not-to-do’s”). The MOH distributes the manual to providers of the Emergency Medical Service in the Czech Republic and it is likewise available at the website of the National Committee.
