Armed Conflict: Nursing’s Perspective

ICN Position:

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) strongly opposes armed conflict and believes negotiation, peaceful conflict resolution and diplomatic solutions should be sought to avoid it.  ICN’s particular concern focuses on the grave consequences for affected civilians, refugees and displaced persons, including severe impairment of health and violation of basic human rights.

Women, children and older persons living in conflict zones are especially vulnerable, and require access to appropriate care and counselling to assist them in maintaining or rebuilding sound physical and emotional health.  ICN condemns the growing number of children serving as soldiers in armed conflict and the deployment of child soldiers regardless of any claims of volunteerism on the part of the children.

ICN believes nurses have an important role to play in addressing the impact of emergency and long term health needs of refugees, other civilian populations and wounded armed forces personnel, and demands protection for all health professionals providing care and relief personnel in conflict zones.

In cases of armed conflict ICN urges national nurses associations to:

• Call upon their governments to ensure the immediate provision of humanitarian assistance, including health care, to refugees and displaced persons and to facilitate open and co-ordinated access of international humanitarian organisations in the affected regions.

• Examine the implications for their countries and undertake co-operative action with local branches of government, UN agencies and non-governmental  organisations at national and local levels to provide adequate health services for all those in need, irrespective of ethnicity.

• Safeguard non-discriminatory access to health care for wounded military and paramilitary personnel and prisoners of war.

• Promote the systems required for the public reporting of massacres of civilians and other serious human rights violations, the accurate and timely investigation of these reports, and the deployment of human rights monitors when necessary.

• Strengthen the establishment of national institutions to protect and promote human rights.

• Lobby for demobilisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of all child soldiers into safe and healthy environments.

Background

About 90 percent of the victims of armed conflicts between and within states are civilians. Currently there are over 9.9 million refugees and over 23.7 million displaced persons throughout the world. There are also over 300,000 child soldiers around the world. Adequate care and social justice for civilians in conflict zones, for refugees and for displaced persons is required.

ICN endorses the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, as the basis for international humanitarian law and the principle instruments for the defence of human dignity in war time, and calls for the application of these in all armed conflicts.

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References:

Amnesty International, www.web.amnesty.org

International Committee of the Red Cross, Rights and Duties of Nurses under the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949, Geneva ICRC, 1970

United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations, Adopted 10 December 1948.

United Nations High Commission for Refugees, www.unhcr.org

Adopted in 1999

Revised and reaffirmed in 2007

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