Following UN report recognizing nurses as human rights defenders, ICN calls to protect the right to health through accountability and an end to attacks

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has again called for adherence to human rights frameworks and accountability for violations of rights, following a new United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur report,  “Health and care workers as defenders of the right to health”, which was presented to the Human Rights Council last week. ICN submitted a comprehensive contribution to this report which has been published on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights website. This comes as ICN continues and intensifies its advocacy to protect nurses and health care workers bravely safeguarding the right to health in conflict-affected regions, including through a recent resolution by ICN’s Council of National Nursing Association Representatives (CNR) unequivocally condemning attacks on healthcare personnel and urging full compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL).

At last week’s Human Rights Council sessions, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Health, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, presented her new report, which recognizes nurses and health and care workers as critical defenders of the right to health who promote social justice and “act as catalysts for health equity”. The report affirms that “the realization of the right to health of all individuals can be achieved only when the rights of health and care workers themselves are upheld, ensuring that they are enabled and empowered to carry out their vital work.” The Special Rapporteur highlighted critical challenges and expressed grave concerns that “health and care workers continue to serve in systems that expose them to harassment and abuse.” Her report calls on all UN member states to ensure safe and fair work conditions, provide adequate renumeration, and improve protections for migrant health workers while preventing workforce depletion in their countries of origin. She also urged leaders to strengthen protections for health personnel in the face of a pattern of increased attacks on health workers and infrastructure, warning that “conflict zones are becoming ‘no human rights zones’”.

In response to the escalating crisis of targeted attacks on health workers in conflict, ICN's governing body passed an exceptional resolution during the recent biennial CNR meeting in Helsinki, Finland, held June 6-8, held just ahead of the ICN Congress. The CNR leaders approved a resolution strongly condemning all attacks on health care personnel, patients, and facilities and calling for full compliance with international humanitarian law that protects health workers in conflict.

José Luis Cobos Serrano, ICN's new President, emphasized the significance of this resolution and ICN's broader work to advocate for peace and support and protect nurses in conflict and crisis affected regions. He commented:

“As stated in this new resolution passed by our CNR, an attack on health care is an attack on humanity itself. We are currently witnessing tragic escalations of wars and conflicts and unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law with ongoing attacks on health care. When health workers are attacked, when hospitals are bombed, when medical supplies are blocked, it violates the fundamental human rights of health care personnel themselves as well as jeopardizing the rights of those who depend on their care. Health workers should never be a target.

‘During ICN’s Congress in Helsinki, we heard firsthand from nurses affected by conflict and crisis around the world. Their testimonies showed the incredible courage and dedication of nursing in the face of unimaginable challenges. ICN stands firm in our commitment to support our colleagues who continue to serve in the most dangerous conditions, often at great personal risk and sacrifice. The nursing profession will continue to be a conduit for peace, justice, and human rights, and ICN calls for immediate and sustained action to end the attacks on health care and health workers that are threatening the right to health for millions of people worldwide.”

ICN’s submission to the Special Rapporteur's report documented evidence of nurses safeguarding the right to health in conflicts, crises, and other situations all around the world. The submission amplified nurses’ experiences, voices, and concerns, providing firsthand testimony and data showing that nurses’ own rights as well as their ability to protect the right to health are jeopardized by inadequate working conditions, underinvestment in nursing leadership, and experiences of violent attacks and harassment. Even in the face of these continued threats, nurses continue to defend access to health care, responding to the needs of individuals and communities and advocating for vulnerable populations.

ICN’s CEO Howard Catton remarked:

“ICN welcomes the Special Rapporteur’s new report and her recognition of the fundamental role health and care workers play as human rights defenders. As set out in ICN’s Code of Ethics, nurses’ roles and obligations extend far beyond individual patient care to the promotion of patients’ rights, social justice, and the social determinants of health for the public good. Nurses are not just the protectors but the gateway and conduit to people's human rights more generally.

‘ICN also welcomes the Special Rapporteur’s strong calls for strengthened legal frameworks and protections to safeguard the rights of health and care workers as the guardians of health, especially in the context of increased violence against health personnel and attacks on health in conflict. ICN remains in close contact with its National Nursing Associations in all conflict zones and continues to receive deeply concerning reports of attacks on healthcare facilities and workers including, in just  recent days, the Soroka Medical Center in Israel, several health facilities in Iran and continuing violence and deaths at food distribution centres in Gaza, as well as an attack on a hospital in Sudan.

‘We must reverse the normalisation of these attacks, and to do that, what is now urgently important is real-world protection. Arguably, our most pressing challenge right now is not the absence of protective frameworks, but the systematic failure to enforce them. We are seeing international humanitarian law and other policy that ostensibly protects human rights not adhered to or even deliberately ignored.

‘We agree with the the Special Rapporteur for Health that in the absence of accountability we are entering a dystopian state.”