Violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people has been a staple of many armed conflicts and crises.1 But for governments and global institutions, persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity in conflict and crisis settings has been a blind spot. Queer people are largely invisible at the United Nations Security Council and in atrocity prevention efforts, peacebuilding processes, and international justice.
It sounds scary, but there’s no need to be frightened by talking about suicidal thoughts. Many LGBTQ+ people think about taking their life at some point, even if they’ve never made any solid plans. It’s not uncommon, and if you’re here reading this, or thinking about talking to someone, then well done! It’s a great first step.
Recent decades have marked major advances for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) people1 in many places, including the legalization of same-sex relations, legal recognition of gender identity on the basis of self-identification, better access to essential healthcare, restrictions on interventions on intersex minors, and increased protections against discrimination and hate crimes.
Supporting LGBTQ victims and survivors and being there for them as they navigate the complexities of life after trauma is a crucial aspect of collective healing. Whether you are part of the LGBTQ community or not, it remains vital to provide a safe and empathetic space for those whose paths may diverge from your own. Learn about ways to show your support for survivors within the LGBTQ community below.
Black LGBTQ+ young people hold multiple marginalised identities. Under the minority stress model, experiences of discrimination, rejection, threats, and violence are compounded, and can lead to negative mental health outcomes.
Many BIPOC LGBTQ+ young people are still facing difficult conversations with people who may be uninformed about race, queer identities, or the intersection of both. Intersectional conversations can take a variety of forms. Some are engaging their White friends for the first time about how being BIPOC impacts their experience in LGBTQ+ spaces, and others are opening up about the nuances of their queer experiences in BIPOC spaces. For people who hold multiple marginalized identities, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to explore the layers of these conversations with others — especially those whose lived experiences are different.
The Trevor Project offers several resources supporting the mental health of LGBTQ young people, including self-care guides and articles regarding mental wellness.
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The Human Rights Campaign is both saddened and infuriated by the deaths of at least 32 transgender and gender-expansive people whose lives have been tragically and inhumanely taken through violent means, including through gun and interpersonal violence, in 2023. Since 2013, the Human Rights Campaign has tracked incidents of fatal transgender violence— the same year the Federal Bureau of Investigation began reporting on hate crimes motivated by anti-transgender bias— and providing action items that can help end the violence.
The Trevor Project focuses on crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTIQ youth but also works to promote understanding and inclusivity in educational and workplace settings.
PFLAG provides support, education, and advocacy to create an inclusive environment for LGBTIQ individuals in all aspects of life, including the workplace.
The HRC is one of the largest LGBTIQ advocacy groups and political lobbying organisations in the United States. They publish the Corporate Equality Index, which rates workplaces on their LGBTIQ policies and practices.
This organisation focuses on achieving workplace equality for LGBTIQ individuals and provides resources, training, and advocacy to help companies create inclusive environments.
his manual is designed to orient helpers to offer psychological first aid (PFA) to people following a serious crisis event. PFA involves humane, supportive and practical assistance for people who are distressed, in ways that respect their dignity, culture and abilities.
General Guidelines for Addressing Mental Health Needs in the School Environment Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence-informed approach for assisting children, adolescents, adults, and families in the immediate aftermath of a stressful life event, such as a disaster, school crisis, or emergency. PFA is designed to reduce the initial distress caused by traumatic events and to foster short and long-term adaptive functioning.
This is a guide designed to help the reader to understand more about PTSD. As well as a description of trauma, symptoms of PTSD, and effective treatments, this guide explores key maintenance factors for PTSD including: unprocessed memories, beliefs about trauma and its consequences, and coping strategies including avoidance. Written in a friendly and explanatory way, this guide is a comprehensive source of information for those with PTSD (and their friends and family). The concepts are explained in an easily digestible manner, with case examples and accessible diagrams. Arabic and English .
The Multicultural Mental Health Resource Centre (MMHRC) seeks to improve the quality and availability of mental health services for people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, including immigrants, refugees, and members of established ethnocultural communities. Addressing issues of language, culture, religion and other aspects of cultural diversity can promote greater equity in mental health care.
The links below provide mental health information in Arabic. These documents – easy to download – are intended for individuals interested in learning more about mental health and ways of improving emotional well being.
The IFRC is deeply concerned about protection and humanitarian assistance for children on the move. This is heighted by data that shows the number of children on the move, including unaccompanied and separated children, has grown substantially in the past decade.7 There are an estimated 50,000 million children on the move worldwide.8 Whether they are labelled as “migrants”, “refugees”, “displaced persons”, “trafficked”, or “stateless” there are numerous threats that are be faced by girls and boys on the move in their home countries, in transit, and at their destination countries.
Additionally, you can find these resources in Arabic.
The ‘Communicating with children about death and helping children cope with grief’ resource provides guidance for adults on communicating with children about death and helping them cope with grief. Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it highlights how children of different ages experience loss and grief, how to talk to them about it and how to help them cope with loss during the pandemic and humanitarian emergencies.
Additionally, you can find these resources in different language:Arabic , English , French , Ukrainian , Spanish , Portuguese , Fulfulde , Swahili , Italian , Filipino , Russian , Indonesian , Hausa , Bengali , Turkish .
This one-pager can assist Red Cross Red Crescent staff and volunteers who work with Restoring Family Links (RFL), or giving support to people in need dealing with having a family member who is missing.
Additionally, you can find these resources in different language: French, Arabic, Greek
This one-pager can assist Red Cross Red Crescent staff and volunteers who work with Restoring Family Links (RFL), or giving support to people in need; navigating having a family member who is missing.
Additionally, you can find these resources in different language: Arabic, French, Greek.
Key Message Bank for those Caring for Children and Adolescents. In both English and Arabic languages,
World Vision International and IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support launched a Child Friendly Space (CFS) Toolkit in 2017. This set of activity cards is selected and adapted from the existing CFS Activity Catalogue that promotes children and their families’ psychosocial well-being during COVID-19. The activity cards are designed especially for children who are in lockdown or have limited access to school and recreational programming. All of the activities can be done individually or with a small group of 2 to 3 people at home or in any suitable place.
Additionally, you can find these resources in different languages: Arabic, Somali, Farsi, Tigrinya, Norwegian, French, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.
Reduce stress, recharge and build inner resilience. Humanitarians and people working in helping professions need to take care of themselves in order not to burn out and to be effective in their work. The well-being guide: reduce stress, recharge and build inner resilience is for individual self-care, and for peers and teams who work together. Each section can be tested or incorporated within regular meetings with a focus on caring for the carers. The exercises in this guide are for all humanitarian staff, volunteers and for recipients of mental health and psychosocial support services. If practised and used regularly, this catalogue of tried and practised tools can regulate stress, calm when distressed, promote sleep, and strengthen inner resilience.
Additionally, these resources can be found in different languages: Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Bosnian, French and English.
It is very difficult to say goodbye if a loved one has passed away. It is even more difficult and challenging if it was impossible to be present in the final days or attend services and burial ceremonies. When people die suddenly for example due to a natural disaster, their loved ones may not be able to be with them in their final moments to say goodbye and express their love and respect. In such circumstances, those left behind may feel intense sadness, pain, remorse, and guilt or may even lose the ability to go about their daily lives. In cases where it is not possible to be near the body of a loved one, there are some things to do to say goodbye in a humane and respectful way. These four actions can ease the agonizing grief of the loss and honor the memory of those who have lost their lives.
Additionally, these resources can be found in different languages: Arabic, Ukrainian and Turkish and English.
Psychological torture, including methods without visible marks (sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, and threats, stealth torture), is rising. Documenting these methods poses challenges. Lawyers and health professionals need interdisciplinary tools for better documentation alongside existing frameworks like the Istanbul Protocol. This article outlines methodology for developing additional instruments to document psychological torture, focusing on the Sleep Deprivation Protocol. We give thanks to Torture Journal’s for the permission to republish and reprint the three protocols that were first published individually in the journal.
The Caring for Child Survivors of Sexual Abuse (CCS) Guidelines (Second Edition, December 2023) offers an up-to-date global technical guidance on providing a model of quality care for children and families affected by sexual abuse in humanitarian settings. These Guidelines are a revision of the 2012 CCS Guidelines (First Edition). They include both revised and content additions based on practitioner feedback, the most recent evidence and learning. The new Guidelines aim to bring a stronger focus on gender inequality, intersectionality, as well as the connections between the best interests of the child and a survivor-centered approach.
These guidelines reflect the insights of practitioners from different geographic regions, disciplines and sectors, and reflect an emerging consensus on good practice among practitioners. The core idea behind them is that, in the early phase of an emergency, social supports are essential to protect and support mental health and psychosocial well-being. In addition, the guidelines recommend selected psychological and psychiatric interventions for specific problems.
This manual, developed by UNESCO and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, provides guidance for educators on preparing children and schools for crisis situations. It includes strategies for promoting mental well-being and resilience among students and staff.
he Sphere Handbook provides a set of minimum standards for humanitarian response, including standards related to mental health and psychosocial support. It emphasizes the importance of preparedness and prevention measures to address the psychosocial impacts of crises.
UNICEF has developed a framework that outlines principles and strategies for providing mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings. It includes recommendations for preparedness and prevention activities aimed at promoting the well-being of individuals and communities.
Developed by Mercy Corps, this guide offers practical tools and methodologies for integrating resilience-building approaches into humanitarian programming. It emphasizes the importance of addressing psychosocial and mental health needs as part of resilience-building efforts.
Produced by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), this manual provides a framework for implementing community-based psychosocial support programs. It focuses on building community resilience and fostering social support networks to enhance mental well-being before, during, and after crises
This action plan outlines strategies for promoting mental health and well-being, including preparedness and prevention measures. It emphasizes the importance of integrating mental health into public health and emergency response frameworks.
Dear survivor and those of you who are close to a survivor. Having one’s human rights violated can lead to painful short and/or long-term physical and/or psychological consequences. In the following you can find information and resources that we hope will be of help to take the first steps to move on in life.
It is increasingly clear that wartime deployment is a family matter. Almost half of today’s active duty forces are parents, and continuing hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan ensure that growing numbers of military families will experience repeated cycles of separation in a context of danger that may span across years of each family’s development. Research conducted since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in Iraq point to the strain that wartime deployment places on families, as gauged by a broad range of indicators.
Resilience is the ability to cope with, adapt to, and overcome challenges. With resiliency training, children and families learn not just to meet challenges but also to become stronger in the face of challenges. Developed by a UCLA-Harvard team, FOCUS teaches Military children and families to understand their emotional reactions, communicate more clearly, solve problems more effectively, and set and achieve their goals. Parents and children—from preschoolers to teens—learn to use tools that will aid in their everyday interactions and help them become a more complete and functional family.
The webpage that provided resources related to veteran and military suicide prevention. It likely contains information, support services, and resources aimed at preventing suicide among veterans and active-duty military personnel. These resources may include hotlines, support groups, counseling services, educational materials, and other tools designed to help individuals in crisis or those who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health issues.
Older adult refugees, in particular, may be at a unique risk but are underrepresented in public health promotion programs or research. When unaddressed, mental health issues can have long-term consequences for morbidity and early mortality among older adult refugees. Resettled refugees experience a high prevalence of mental health-related issues, such as depression, psychological distress, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to their native-born counterparts.
There is little information on the situation of older persons on the move in the Latin American region. This regional evaluation is the first one to make a comprehensive analysis on the intersectionality between ageing and human mobility. The current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic is also analysed, including the worsening access to rights and services and the impact in their lives.
The purpose of this Policy is to reinforce UNHCR’s longstanding commitment to ensuring that people are at the centre of all that we do. This requires that we apply an age, gender, and diversity (AGD) approach to all aspects of our work. Through this Policy, we aim to ensure that persons of concern can enjoy their rights on an equal footing and participate meaningfully in the decisions that affect their lives, families, and communities.
To strengthen the capacities of UNHCR and its partners to achieve better lives for older peoples, this training module on Strengthening the protection of older persons in forced displacement was developed in collaboration with HelpAge International to provide a basic introduction about older age in the context of forced displacement. It analyses the protection concerns that older persons face in these situations and explores strategies that can be used to mitigate them.
In 2017, 85% of displaced persons were hosted in developing regions5, where service systems, including services required by older persons, are already under pressure and capacity to scale up these systems is limited. Further, forcibly displaced older persons often face additional obstacles to integrating into their host communities, due to having fewer opportunities for participation and building of social networks, such as through education or work.
Older refugees face particular risks during displacement, and face additional barriers to access protection and assistance, including during resettlement and integration. Stakeholders involved throughout the integration process should develop a thorough understanding of the needs, capacities and barriers that older persons may face, and plan dedicated strategies to address them.
These PRACTICAL GUIDELINES have been produced to support helpers in their work. This set of guidelines focuses on elderly people who, because of their age and associated health profiles, may be especially vulnerable to uprooting and forced displacement, and build on a long experience dealing with the psychosocial impact of conflicts and natural disasters. The elderly are a population that is often forgotten and neglected in conflict and other humanitarian settings. The guidelines are not meant to be prescriptive, but rather seek to provide ideas on how to respond to what are likely to be new circumstances, new questions and new demands.
During times of displacement, older persons have urgent rights and needs. They can be particularly at risk of abuse and neglect during conflict or natural disasters, when a lack of mobility, diminished vision and chronic illnesses can make access to support difficult. Today, older refugees make up some 4 per cent of the overall population of concern to UNHCR, and by 2050 more of the world will be over 60 than under 12 years old.
Michel is like many other five-year-olds: he has a loving family and spends his days going to school and playing soccer. But in 1993, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Michel and his family live, is a country in tumult. One afternoon, Michel and his friends are kidnapped by rebel militants and forced to become child soldiers. Child Soldier is the sometimes heartbreaking but ultimately inspiring true story of the triumph of the human spirit.
The “Field Guide to Child Soldier Programs in Emergencies” is one in a series compiled by Save the Children (SC) as part of its Children and War Capacity Building Initiative. The SC Children in Crisis Unit developed this initiative in order to support SC staff in responding to the priority care and protection needs of children and adolescents during new emergencies and in situations of chronic armed conflict or displacement.
The scenes of heartbreak, chaos and ruin from conflict are gut-wrenching. It’s hard not to feel hopeless and helpless in the face of it. But, child sponsors around the world bring hope into some of humanity’s darkest hours – even when they don’t realise it. Here’s how. Bewildered kids clutching teddy bears and their mother’s hand. Tear on faces turned away. Bundles and backpacks clenched as a lifeline to a dislocated life.
But effects go beyond mental health. Children who had been exposed to bombing and combat in Germany during World War Two, for example, were more than twice as likely to suffer from a severe illness in their early sixties, possibly a result of an overburdened autonomic stress system. Other studies on German children living through the same war found that traumatic stress came with a higher risk of multiple poor health outcomes including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, asthma, back pain and even cancer. Some research indicates that such illnesses may even be transmitted to the next generation of children through epigenetic mechanisms.
In this guide, you will find links to resources related to children and their experiences during war and large societal conflicts, and the after‐effects of these events on children. Resources include books, media reports, documentaries, newspapers and more. For further assistance, please contact the Museum’s Carte International Reference Centre
As hostilities in Ukraine escalate, children may see and hear things about the crisis in the news, leading to feelings of uncertainty, anxiety and fear, which parents and caregivers need to address, Save the Children’s psychologists warn.
During times of conflict and crisis, children, parents, caregivers experience anxiety and stress. More than ever, families should stand together, encourage, and support each other and strive to keep on one team – getting through these tough times together. As the family navigates through the tough times, children will always look up to adults – parents and caregivers for information, guidance, courage, support in all forms including love and hugs. They want a sense of safety and security. Here are some tips on how to approach the conversation with your child and to provide them with support and comfort.
When conflict or war makes the headlines, it can cause feelings such as fear, sadness, anger and anxiety wherever you live. Here are some tips on how to approach the conversation with your child and to provide them with support and comfort.
This report presents a summary of discussions conducted during an international workshop “Building knowledge to improve existing service responses for all survivors – Developing a conceptual framework outlining the links between conflict-related sexual violence against men and boys, health sector and policy responses for conflict-affected populations” held in London, UK, on 11-12 October 2018 and co-organised by All Survivors Project (ASP) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
The pervasive nature and appalling consequences of sexual violence against women and girls in situations of armed conflict is well established. Although women and girls are disproportionately affected, the extent to which conflict-related sexual violence impacts men and boys is also increasingly recognised. Rape and other forms of sexual violence involving males perpetrated by state security forces or non-state armed groups (NSAGs) has been documented in at least 30 different states affected by armed conflict in recent years.
The pervasive nature and appalling consequences of sexual violence against women, men, girls, and boys, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI+) persons, in situations of armed conflict are well established. Detention settings are a key context of vulnerability to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), as noted by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2467 (2019).[1] These Principles aim to outline and clarify existing international law and standards to prevent and address CRSV in detention settings.
In the Central African Republic (CAR), thousands of children have been recruited and used by parties to armed conflict over the last decade, predominantly by non-State armed groups (NSAGs). According to UN reports, many girls have been recruited for a wide range of purposes, including sexual exploitation or otherwise subjected to sexual abuse during their association with the groups, with devastating consequences for the girls. As is the case elsewhere, far less is known about how sexual violence impacts boys associated with fighting forces, such as happens in CAR, and about the needs for care and support that may arise from it.
ASP seeks to complement and reinforce existing work on CRSV against women and girls, recognising the disproportionate impact of CRSV on them and the way in which gendered inequalities, institutions and identities drive this form of violence. Our work with men and boys is aimed at enlarging the scope of research, analysis, action and responses to prevent and support victims/survivors to include those who are not always easily identified or supported within existing action on CRSV.