By the Editors

The Italian Federation of Surgeons and Dentists (Federazione nazionale degli Ordini dei Medici Chirurghi e degli Odontoiatri) has published the Manifesto “Doctors and Peace” (Medici e Pace) during the Symposium Curare senza paura, which was held in Perugia on March, 12.

The Italian Manifesto appeared a few days after the European Council of Medical Orders (CEOM) released the statement Ethical and deontological issues in times of conflict.

The Italian Manifesto claims that health is a universal right that should be granted to everyone, for the equal distribution of medical services is a fundamental contribution to peace and fraternity.

The Close Encounters in War Journal salutes the initiative as an ethical response to the growing political instability that is triggering wars and causing suffering on a global scale.

By Shalindri Peiris

^{Rockets in the night sky in a picture taken by the author}

It happened again. Less than a year later, I stood in the exact same spot and counted, through the window, the orange lights moving steadily toward me. They streaked across the sky with terrifying purpose. It is almost ironic that I grew up in a country ravaged by civil war for three decades and never once heard the sound of a bomb, yet here I was, feeling the walls tremble around me. The attempt to flee felt laughable from the very beginning.

All we could do was grip our packed bags and stand on the doorstep, praying to every god we knew that the orange lights slicing through the sky would not fall on us…