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Hunger Strikers: Historical Perspectives from the Emergency Management of Refugee Camp Asylum Seekers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2013

Frederick M. Burkle Jr. ,
Jimmy T. S. Chan  and
Richard D. S. Yeung
Frederick M. Burkle Jr.*
Affiliation:
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA
Jimmy T. S. Chan
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
Richard D. S. Yeung
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
*
Correspondence: Frederick M. Burkle, Jr., MD, MPH, DTM, FAAP, FACEP Harvard Humanitarian Initiative 14 Story Street, 2nd Floor Cambridge, MA 02138 USA E-mail [email protected]
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Abstract

The treatment of hunger strikers is always contentious, chaotic and complex. The management is particularly difficult for health professionals as it raises unprecedented clinical, ethical, moral, humanitarian, and legal questions. There are never any easy answers. The current situation of prisoners from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars currently at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in Cuba demands unprecedented transparency, accountability and multilevel coordination to ensure that the rights of the strikers are properly met. There are scant references available in the scientific literature on the emergency management of these tragedies. This historical perspective documents the complex issues faced by emergency physicians in Hong Kong surrounding refugee camp asylum seekers from Vietnam in 1994 and is offered as a useful adjunct in understanding the complex issues faced by emergency health providers and managers.

BurkleFMJr., ChanJTS, YeungRSD. Hunger Strikers: Historical Perspectives from the Emergency Management of Refugee Camp Asylum Seekers. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2013:28(6);1-5.

Keywords

hunger strikeinternational lawpolitical prisonerstarvation
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 28 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 625 - 629
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2013 

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