I’m a humanitarian. Don’t prosecute me for doing my job
Publication language
English Date published
12 Nov 2019 Type
Blogs Keywords
Conflict, violence & peace, Development & humanitarian aid, National & regional actors Organisations
The New HumanitarianIn 2011, I negotiated in Afghanistan with the Taliban, the Afghan government, and the United States to establish a trauma hospital in the northern city of Kunduz that would care for the wounded and sick, regardless of who they were.
Initially hostile to the idea that Taliban fighters should have access to treatment, the American and Afghan governments, both signatories to the Geneva Conventions, eventually relented that medical care for wounded and sick soldiers – on both sides of a conflict – lies at the heart of today’s rules of war.