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Protecting Public Service Workers in Conflict Zones

Nov 14, 2025

At the 14th African and Arab Countries Regional Conference, PSI affiliates adopted a resolution condemning attacks on health and public service workers in conflict zones, particularly in the DRC and Cameroon, and calls for their protection under international humanitarian law. Affiliates urged trade unions and PSI to provide solidarity, legal and psychological support, document violations, and strengthen monitoring to safeguard workers operating in areas of insecurity.

 RESOLUTION #4: PROTECTING PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS IN CONFLICT AND CRISES ZONES 

The 14th Africa and the Arab Countries Region Conference (AFRECON) Meeting in Accra, Ghana, 11-14 November 2025 

WHEREAS the intensification of armed conflicts in several Francophone African countries, particularly in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has resulted in health workers regularly becoming victims of attacks, kidnappings, threats and targeted violence; 

CONSIDERING that these personnel are essential for affected populations and their protection is a humanitarian and trade union imperative; 

ACKNOWLEDGING the collapse of health facilities, which forces health workers to operate without safety, support or basic resources; 

RECOGNISING that attacks on health workers violate international humanitarian law (IHL) and constitute war crimes. 

RESOLVES to: 

  1. Firmly condemn targeted violence against health personnel in conflict zones, particularly in the DRC and Cameroon. 

  2. Call for special protection for health and public sector workers under international humanitarian law. 

  3. Call on PSI to launch an international trade union solidarity campaign in support of health workers operating in war zones or areas of insecurity. 

  4. Encourage affiliates to document and report on unionised victims, and to support them through trade union partnerships, psychological and legal support programmes, and solidarity funds. 

  5. Encourage PSI to strengthen its monitoring and alert capacities in these areas through a regional mechanism dedicated to human and trade union rights in crisis zones. 

Submitted by: Solidarité Syndicales des Infirmiers du Congo (SOLSICO), The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) 




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