Page 29 - Human Rights

Faculty of Nursing
Adult care Nursing Department

Florence Nightingale and, belatedly, Mary Seacole came to define the healing role of the nurse

through their well-publicized work during the Crimean War.

6 Clara Barton, a prominent nursing figure during the American Civil War, also contributed much

to the development of nursing and founded the US Red Cross. The subsequent development of
nursing reflected many of the principles elaborated during this period and later in the nineteenth

century and early twentieth century.

However, this wholly benevolent view of nurses’ capacities was later to change as a result of

abuses of nursing’s humanitarian role.

It was the behavior of doctors in Germany between 1933 and 1945 that drove much of the post-

1945 discussion on medical and research ethics and contributed to the creation of a World Medical

Association (WMA) with medical ethics as a principal focus.

2.3 Nurses, midwives and the right to health

2.3.1 What is the “right to health”?

The right to health is a shorthand expression for the right specified in a number of international

treaties including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which

more than 150 countries are party.

Article 12 of this Covenant states at paragraph 1 that “States Parties … recognize the right of

everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”.

The Covenant gives some pointers to how this simple statement should be understood.

However, in 2000 the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), which monitors

the implementation of the Covenant, set out in a “General Comment” a detailed and authoritative
statement of interpretation of Article 12.

26 Academic Year 2025/2026