The Assault on Medical Neutrality and the Use of Weaponized Tear Gas in Bahrain

Medical Neutrality and the Use of Weaponized Tear Gas in Bahrain
September, 2013 – Physicians for Human Rights

Protecting Patients and Physicians From Attack in Bahrain

The Bahraini government’s response to the early 2011 pro-democracy protests was brutal, systematic, and violent. In addition to birdshot and rubber bullets, government law enforcement attacked unarmed protestors with toxic chemical agents including tear gas. The government’s crackdown on the medical profession was especially harmful, as security forces arrested and detained doctors, raided
health facilities, and obstructed patients from receiving necessary care. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) calls for all perpetrators of abuse to be held accountable.

During the pro-democracy uprisings that began in early 2011, health workers on the frontline had first-hand knowledge of government attacks on peaceful protesters. As a result of their efforts to provide unbiased care for wounded protesters, the government initiated systematic and targeted attacks against medical personnel.

In April 2011, PHR launched an investigation in Bahrain after government authorities began to systematically target, abduct, detain, and torture physicians and station military forces in health facilities.

PHR’s report, Do No Harm: A Call for Bahrain to End Systematic Attacks on Doctors and Patients, was instrumental in compelling the U.S. government to include Bahrain in a list of major human rights violators in a formal submission to the UN Human Rights Council.

In addition to egregious violations to the principle of medical neutrality, the Bahraini government police forces have used enormous amounts of weaponized chemical agents, including tear gas, on protestors and other civilians. PHR’s 2012 report, Weaponizing Tear Gas: Bahrain’s Unprecedented Use of Toxic Chemical Agents Against Civilians, chronicles health effects and human rights violations associated with the inappropriate and excessive use of weaponized chemical agents. In this report, PHR found that Bahrain’s misuse of toxic chemical weapons was endangering the health of civilians and causing long-term pain and suffering. …more