Tell your MP: Silence is not neutrality. It is a political choice.

29 Apr 26

Tell your MP: Silence is not neutrality. It is a political choice.

The scene at an MSF hospital in Lankien, South Sudan, after an airstrike that was followed by looting

Tell the UK Government to protect healthcare in conflict.

In 2016, the UK Government played a key role in UN Security Council resolution 2286, which demanded that healthcare be protected in conflict zones.

Now, a decade later, it is failing even to speak out when hospitals are bombed, and patients and medical staff are attacked.

Take action today: tell the UK Government to stand up for international humanitarian law.

Explained: The UK is failing to protect humanitarian law

A staggering 1,981 healthcare workers were killed in 2025. From Israeli strikes on Al-Rantisi Paediatric Hospital in Gaza City – the largest children's hospital in Palestine – to the bombing of the only pharmacy in South Sudan's remote Old Fangak: healthcare is increasingly under attack.

And yet the UK Government remains silent while rowing back on vital commitments to international humanitarian law (IHL).

From Gaza to Sudan, the UK Government has consistently failed to publicly condemn attacks on healthcare, to identify the warring parties responsible or to demand that states – including their allies – meet their obligations to IHL. It is clear: when an attack happens, there are no consequences from the UK Government. Instead, there is total impunity.
In April 2026, the UK Government shut down its only programme collecting and analysing the breaches of human rights and IHL in Israel and Palestine since October 2023. More than 23,000 breaches had been recorded in that time.
The UK also cut funding to the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project, run by the Centre for Information Resilience, which investigates human rights and IHL breaches across the globe.

The UK Government must take action to strengthen IHL and prevent future attacks from occurring.

No one should be targeted for providing or receiving lifesaving care – and nobody should be attacked when they are in a place of safety. But we see that every day, attacks continue.

MSF has witnessed hospitals being bombed, looted and forced to shut their doors when the needs are at their highest. Patients have been killed in their beds. Doctors have been killed while treating their patients.

This must stop.

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I am writing to you as your constituent to demand that the UK Government do more to uphold international humanitarian law (IHL) that protects healthcare in conflict – including by speaking out when healthcare is under attack and ensuring that the UK has the capacity and resource to track and investigate IHL breaches, as well as uphold its own obligations.Ten years ago, on 3 May 2016, the UN Security Council (UNSC) passed resolution 2286, calling for the protection of healthcare in conflict. Since then, attacks have only got worse. In the last five years, both the number of attacks on healthcare and the number of health and aid workers killed has more than doubled. An environment of impunity and silence has been created, wherein international law is disregarded and civilians pay the price.It is against this backdrop that the UK has shut down the only programme that collects and verifies breaches of human rights and IHL in Israel and Palestine – including attacks on healthcare. Officials will lose access to a database of 26,000 verified incidents going back to October 2023. The Government is also cutting its funding to the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project run by the Centre for information Resilience, which investigates human rights and IHL breaches across the globe.This is unacceptable. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and penholder for the protection of civilians agenda, the UK Government has an obligation to ensure international law is upheld. I am asking that you do everything within your power to push the Government to: &nbsp;<ul><li>Publicly condemn all attacks on healthcare swiftly and consistently across all conflicts, including where UK allies are responsible. Inconsistency undermines IHL and the vital protections it confers to health and humanitarian workers.</li><li>Ensure the necessary funding, capacity and resource exists in the Foreign, Commonwealth &amp; Development Office (FCDO) to uphold the UK’s obligations under IHL. The UK cannot pay lip service to IHL while cutting the programmes which work to prevent atrocities and ensure UK compliance with IHL. &nbsp;</li><li>Reject and expose narratives that misuse or distort IHL to justify attacks on healthcare workers, facilities, or humanitarian aid. &nbsp;</li><li>Fully implement and operationalise UNSC Resolution 2286 and accompanying recommendations from the UN Secretary General, and re‑engage with like‑minded states through the informal “Friends of 2286” group to prevent attacks on healthcare. &nbsp;</li><li>Call for a Special Session of the UNSC to discuss the problem of disregard to UNSC 2286 and take steps to strengthen protection for healthcare.</li><li>Support accountability by backing international courts and legal mechanisms, including the ICC, ICJ rulings, and the International Humanitarian Fact‑Finding Commission. &nbsp;</li><li>In addition to legal and diplomatic tools, make full use of its powers to sanction individuals who attack healthcare or humanitarian facilities and personnel, to promote compliance with IHL.</li></ul>You can find an up-to-date briefing from Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) UK included with this email.For more information about international humanitarian law, attacks on healthcare and what the UK can do, or to arrange a private briefing, contact Liz Harding, Head of Humanitarian Representation at MSF UK (liz.harding@london.msf.org). &nbsp;

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Tell your MP: Silence is not neutrality. It is a political choice.