Wars, conflicts and crises giving rise to international crimes and gross human rights violations never leave individuals, communities and societies untouched. The dehumanisation associated with Africa's brutal past and current conflicts, with their attendant gross human rights violations, often leaves individual and collective trauma in their wake. Such traumas tend to compound already existing structures of inequality and marginalisation, which can also produce serious obstacles to mental health and emotional well-being. There is increasing international awareness of the need to integrate mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) as a core component of transitional justice (TJ) to safeguard against recurrence of conflicts and gross human rights violations.
This policy brief draws on youth voices in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and South Sudan to provide youth perspectives on trauma and the psychosocial impacts of conflict, in order to better inform how we can include MHPSS in TJ.
Policy Brief - MHPSS (July 2023)
CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute that seeks to understand and prevent violence, heal its effects and build sustainable peace at the community, national and regional levels.
