ICN urges United Nations Secretary General to instigate firm and decisive action to stop attacks on nurses in conflict zones

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has written to the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) asking for firm and decisive action to be taken to prevent attacks on nurses and health care facilities. ICN has been raising the issue of increasing attacks on nurses in conflict zones for more than two years and has warned about the “normalization” of such attacks.

ICN President Dr Pamela Cipriano wrote to His Excellency UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about the continuing attacks on nurses and other health care workers that are being carried out in many war zones and flashpoints around the globe. Dr Cipriano called on the UN Secretary to do everything in his power to stop these growing attacks and protect health workers and their patients.

In her letter, Dr Cipriano highlighted nurses’ professional roles in health care and humanitarian circumstances. She referred to the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Healthcare in Danger report, which highlights the urgent need to protect health care staff and the facilities they work in and called for the United Nations to address this urgent, world-wide problem.

Dr Cipriano wrote: “I am asking you to use the powers of your office to express again your condemnation of the barbaric attacks we have seen around the world, and to restate the protections that nurses and other health care workers should be afforded under international law.”

The letter is part of ICN’s #NursesforPeace campaign, which raises funds for nurses working on the frontlines of emergency situations and draws public attention to the associated threats to public health care systems. #NursesforPeace is currently providing a range of support to nurses in various hotspots around the world, including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar, and Israel and Palestine.

In our latest update we report on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan, where deliberate attacks on health facilities continue and the lack of accountability. Over the last two years ICN has highlighted its profound concerns about the growing number of such attacks, including through an intervention at the World Health Assembly in May, the signing of an open letter from the World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA) and the letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres.

The WHPA letter, published in March 2024, called on health professionals worldwide to sign an open letter calling for all parties in conflicts to safeguard health facilities and personnel, in line with international laws. The WHPA, of which ICN is a founding member, expressed its unwavering condemnation of ongoing violence targeting health care facilities and personnel in all regions worldwide and called on all parties involved in conflicts to unconditionally uphold all aspects of humanitarian law.