The international president of Médecins Sans Frontières has called on the US government to agree to an independent investigation into the airstrike which killed 12 of its staff after President Obama apologised to the organisation.
In a statement released today, Dr. Joanne Liu, international president of MSF, called upon the US government to allow an independent investigation into the airstrike on an MSF trauma hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
Despite receiving an official apology from the President Barrack Obama over the incident, Liu said MSF need to know “how it happened, and why it happened”.
"We received President Obama's apology for the attack against our trauma hospital in Afghanistan," she said.
“However, we reiterate our ask that the US government consent to an independent investigation led by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to establish what happened in Kunduz, how it happened, and why it happened."
Alongside the 12 charity workers and at least seven patients who died in the attack, a further 37 people and nine staff were injured. It has also been reported that there are another 33 people still missing after the attack.
In a blog taken from a speech Dr. Liu gave in Geneva on Wednesday, MSF said that it was “unacceptable for the United States to hide behind ‘gentleman’s agreements’” and said that “even wars have rules”.
“The US attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz was the biggest loss of life for our organisation in an airstrike. Tens of thousands of people in Kunduz can no longer receive medical care now when they need it most. Today we say: enough. Even war has rules.
“This was not just an attack on our hospital – it was an attack on the Geneva Conventions. This cannot be tolerated. These Conventions govern the rules of war and were established to protect civilians in conflicts – including patients, medical workers and facilities.
“They bring some humanity into what is otherwise an inhumane situation.”
The International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission
The commission that MSF has called upon to investigate the incident was established in the Additional Protocols of the Geneva Convention in 1991.
MSF has called upon “signatory states” to the convention to “activate the Commission to establish the truth and to reassert the protected status of hospitals in conflict”.
According to MSF, the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission has never actually been used, but it said that now was the time to start.
“Though this body has existed since 1991, the Commission has not yet been used. It requires one of the 76 signatory States to sponsor an inquiry.
“Governments up to now have been too polite or afraid to set a precedent. The tool exists and it is time it is activated.”
