The Medical Ethics of Conflict
It is hard to ignore the recent headlines over Shamena Begum. A young girl recruited to ISIS now pleading with the UK authorities to allow her to come back to the UK to face fair justice. I am certainly not going to comment on the specifics of this case, but it has raised some significant issues that perhaps we as a country should be mindful of. The first is that there seems to be confusion over the legal and ethical responsibilities of law-abiding nation states. The second is the tendency to allow passions to run so high that the quality of the debate deteriorates rapidly.
As part of One Shot’s community outreach, I have recently been giving a talk entitled “Is The Enemy Human: The Medical Ethics of Conflict”. I first gave this talk to the Year 8 children at the request of a school in London. The Headmaster saw a distinct need to expose children at a young age to some complex ethical dilemmas. Should the enemy receive medical care when injured? Would you use your last bandage on a friend or foe, even if it was clear the friend could not survive? What if the enemy are deliberately ignoring the law of armed conflict? Why is this relevant to today?
What struck me was the quality of the debate that ensued amongst the children themselves. Based on their new knowledge of the Geneva Conventions and the law of armed conflict, they were able to tease out answers to some of these questions. They conducted a reasoned debate. They disagreed respectfully. And they eventually came to a conclusion. They agreed with Florence Nightingale:
“Suffering lifts its victims above normal values. While suffering endures there is neither good nor bad, valuable nor invaluable, enemy nor friend”
They showed a desire to debate properly, and a passion for tackling the biggest issues facing humankind. Something that is notably lacking from public debate at the moment.
As a business, One Shot doesn’t just want to make impactful Virtual Reality products, but we intend to use our platform to raise the issues that matter. Our community outreach in schools is an important component of this.