Swiss Healthcare Workers
Against Genocide
As people working in the health sector in Switzerland, we can no longer remain silent.
About us
Who we are
We are a network of healthcare professionals based in Switzerland. Our members include nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, complementary medicine practitioners, paramedics, occupational therapists, psychologists, and others.
Devastated by the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza, and in particular by the attacks on our colleagues and the healthcare system, we felt compelled to act.
We have since come to the sad realization that grave violations of the Geneva Conventions are increasing dramatically in other conflicts as well. Recognizing the need for a longer-term and geographically broader engagement, we have founded an association under Swiss law.
For the time being, however, our focus remains on Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, since nowhere else has the obliteration of the healthcare system been as deliberate and catastrophic, and because of Switzerland's particularly close ties with Israel, the state responsible for the destruction.
A genocide is the most extreme form of racism. It therefore goes without saying that we stand against all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism — whose most catastrophic manifestation, the Holocaust, prompted the international community to adopt the Genocide Convention.
Our mission
As healthcare professionals, we have a duty to speak out — against the sharp rise in violations of humanitarian law and the terrible suffering they cause, for the protection of our beleaguered colleagues, and for the non-negotiable right of the sick and wounded to unrestricted access to healthcare.
We raise awareness among the Swiss public and authorities, so that they take responsibility for ensuring that international humanitarian law is upheld — in particular the Geneva Conventions, of which Switzerland is the depositary state.
Words alone cannot stop a genocide or other grave violations of humanitarian law — action is needed. By failing to act, Switzerland is complicit.*
Our members are already doing their part. We stand ready to cooperate with the Swiss authorities in any relevant efforts, and many of us are prepared to join field missions, if we are granted access, and security assurances are provided. We are also committed to helping rebuild the healthcare system in Gaza and other conflict zones — including by training local professionals online wherever possible.
* Geneva Conventions referenced
- Geneva Convention IV (1949) — protection of civilian persons in war, articles 16, 17 and 19.
- Additional Protocol I (1977) — international armed conflicts, articles 12, 13 and 54.
- Geneva Convention I — wounded and sick on the battlefield, article 19.