A set of ethical rules and principles to be respected by all persons giving medical care. The obligation to respect the principles of medical ethics is repeated in the statement of the general protection which positive international law recognizes as due to medical duties. This states that

  1. no person may be punished for carrying out medical activities compatible with medical ethics, regardless of the circumstances or persons benefiting therefrom, and
  2. persons engaged in medical activities shall not be compelled to perform acts or to carry out work contrary to the rules of medical ethics, to other medical rules designed for the benefit of the wounded and sick or to provisions of international law, or to refrain from performing acts or from carrying out work required by those rules and provisions.  

 OUTLINE

Chapter 7. III. 2. a) – may perform medical duties in conformity with medical ethics

Chapter 7. III. 2. c) – right not to perform acts contrary to medical ethics

Chapter 7. III. 3. b) respect for medical ethics

 LEGAL SOURCE

PI, 16/1

PII, 10/2

CIHL, 26

 CASES

ICRC/Geneva Call, Dissemination of IHL using I.T.

Iraq, Medical Ethics in Detention

Iraq, Care for Wounded Enemies

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health

Afghanistan, Attack on Kunduz Trauma Centre

Syria: Medical support for ISIS

 BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES

Board of Science of the British Medical Association, The Use of Drugs as Weapons: the Concerns and Responsibilities of Healthcare Professionals, London, British Medical Association, May 2007, 34 pp.   BOTHE Michael, “International Medical and Humanitarian Law”, in ILA Report, Vol. 59, 1980, pp. 520-530.   ENEMARK Christian, “Triage, Treatment and Torture: Ethical Challenges for US Military Medicine in Iraq”, in Journal of Military Ethics, Vol. 7, Issue 3, 2008, pp. 186-201.   GOODMAN Ryan & ROSEMAN Mindy Jane (eds), Interrogations, Forced Feedings, and the Role of Health Professionals: New Perspectives on International Human Rights, Humanitarian Law and Ethics, Cambridge (USA): Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, 2009, 228 pp.   HIEBEL Jean-Luc, “Human Rights Relating to Spiritual Assistance as Embodied in the Geneva Conventions of 1949”, in IRRC, No. 214, January 1980, pp. 3-28.   PICTET Jean, “The Medical Profession and International Humanitarian Law”, in IRRC, No. 247, July 1985, pp. 191-209.   SCHOENHOLZER Jean-Pierre, Nurses and the GenevaConventions of 1949, Geneva, ICRC, 1957, 32 pp.   SCHOENHOLZER Jean-Pierre, “The Doctor in the Geneva Conventions of 1949”, in IRRC Supplement, Vol. VI, No. 11, 1953, pp. 191-213.   TORRELLI Maurice, Le médecin et les droits de l’homme, Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1983, 466 pp.