Page 112 - Human Rights

Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department

By working with their professional body, human rights organizations, social justice movements or

just responding to abuses they witness, nurses can strengthen respect for human rights and access

of individuals to justice.

3.5 Nurses, midwives and human rights education

In a 2005 statement on nursing and human rights, Amnesty International emphasized the need

for continuing professional and human rights education as nurses increasingly encounter complex

ethical decisions in their daily work while facing violence in the workplace.

The need for national and international nursing associations to involve themselves in human
rights education is one recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) in its Recommendations of Human Rights Teaching, Information and

Documentation.

As long ago as 1987, UNESCO called for the promotion by its Director General of:

training in human rights of professionals, particularly those concerned by human rights, such as
magistrates, doctors, nurses, police officers, journalists, those in positions of responsibility in the

armed forces, personnel of refugee camps, frontier guards, etc., through their national and

international organizations, and promote [ion of] the cause of human rights…

The ICN has called for “all levels of nursing education curricula [to] include the following:

recognition of human rights issues and violations, such as torture and death penalty; awareness

of the use of medical technology for executions; and recognition of the nurse’s right to refuse
participation in executions”.

If the values of human rights are to contribute to the ethical framework and conduct of nursing

then they need to be included in the education of nurses and midwives.

108 Academic Year 2025/2026