Red Cross: Saving the lives of the life-savers

Those who practice medicine in the battlefield routinely and voluntarily put their lives on the line. However, as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is quick to point out, that does not mean those practitioners are exempt from the right, the need, nor the expectation for protection. If anything, those in the field conducting humanitarian aid missions are meant to be some of the most protected of all, working as they do to indiscriminately save the lives of any wounded person or victim of war. While there are laws that govern this protection, a lack of understanding or of concern across many regions torn apart by violent struggle means that protection is far from guaranteed...