Weapon of war: Sexual violence against children in armed conflict

This report presents the very first quantitative analysis of the risk of sexual violence against children in conflict for the period 1990–2019. The report flags remaining data gaps, shortcomings in child-centred and gender-responsive service delivery, and impunity for these crimes. Our findings also show the urgency of the broader call for gender equality and child rights, including increased focus on girls’ empowerment initiatives, recognising that girls are disproportionately affected. Sexual violence in conflict is a weapon, whether it is used tactically or opportunistically. While children face increasing risk of sexual violence in conflict, the international community struggles to adequately address this human rights violation. The scale and gravity of sexual violence against children in armed conflict call for immediate and concerted action by the UN, states, donors, the humanitarian community, researchers and civil society to meet their obligations to ensure children are safe from harm.

My hero is you

This video is an adaptation of the children’s book, My Hero is You, released in early 2020 to help educate children around the world about COVID-19. The original book was created by mental health and psychosocial support experts from the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), the highest-level humanitarian coordination forum of the United Nations.

A team, led by Stanford Medicine’s Maya Adam, adapted the story into a short animated film, with input and oversight from the IASC Mental health and Psychosocial Support Reference Group, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO). The film aims to convey messages of hope, resilience, solidarity, and empowerment to children and their caregivers around the world.

Consent for kids

Consent is like being ruler of your own country…population: YOU. This is a smart, playful guide to consent and bodily autonomy. There is an upcoming book, based on this video that’s packed with bright and energetic illustrations. Readers will learn about boundaries and how to set them; signs of healthy (and unhealthy) relationships; ways to respect themselves and others; how to spot grooming behaviors; what to do if someone makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe; and much more. Along the way, they’ll be encouraged to reflect on (and improve!) their own behavior and to practice consent in their daily lives. Whether you’re looking for a consent primer to share with a friend or searching for a way to talk to your child about what it means to be in control of their own body and respect others’, look no further! This humorous and insightful book from the co-creator of the viral “Tea Consent” video is the perfect teaching tool, conversation starter, and insightful, empowering resource for educators, kids, and families everywhere.
You can see the video here. 

Will Child Soldier Recruitment Ever End?

Article 38/3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), states parties are prohibited from recruiting any person who has not attained the age of 15 years into the armed forces. Likewise, even in recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of 15 years but who have not attained the age of 18 years, states and non-state armed groups shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest.

Nevertheless, the recruitment of children as combatants by non-state armed groups in the Philippines continues despite the prohibitions set by the UNCRC and its Optional Protocols.

ICT-based Psycho-Social Trauma Relief in Refugee Camps in Ethiopia

This research into testing the delivery Self-Help Low Cost Post Traumatic Stress (SHCLCPTS) on ICT will look at the workable elements of the trauma-healing program. Furthermore, it explores the possibilities of delivering the program via ICT reflecting the high mobility of the population in question. This was carried out in refugee camps in Ethiopia.

The association between post-traumatic stress-related symptoms, resilience, current stress and past exposure to violence: a cross sectional study of the survival of Quechua women in the aftermath of the Peruvian armed conflict

“The long lasting resilience of individuals and communities affected by mass violence has not been given equal prominence as their suffering. This has often led to psychosocial interventions in post-conflict zones being unresponsive to local realities and ill-equipped to foster local strengths. Responding to the renewed interest in resilience in the field of violence and health, this study examines the resilience and post-traumatic responses of Indigenous Quechua women in the aftermath of the political violence in Peru (1980–2000).”

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 19 of the Convention pursuant to the optional reporting procedure, Eighth periodic report of States parties due in 2016 : Norway

“The report deals with the changes in legislation and legal and administrative practice relating to the individual material provisions of the Convention that have been made since the Government of Norway submitted its combined sixth and seventh report (CAT/C/NOR/Q/7), with a reference to the list of issues adopted by the Committee at its 52nd session (CAT/C/NOR/QPR8), in accordance with the new optional reporting procedures established by the Committee at its 38th session.”

Achieving universal health coverage for mental disorders

“A key element of the field of global mental health is the design and evaluation of innovative strategies for integrating cost effective pharmacological and psychosocial interventions in primary healthcare. The evidence from this work, from a range of contexts including high income countries, is showing the way to integration. A theme across this evidence is the placement of non-specialised providers (including peers, community health workers, and nurses) in primary healthcare and community settings.”

Digital technology for treating and preventing mental disorders in low-income and middle-income countries: a narrative review of the literature

“Few individuals living with mental disorders around the globe have access to mental health care, yet most have access to a mobile phone. Digital technology holds promise for improving access to, and quality of, mental health care. We reviewed evidence on the use of mobile, online, and other remote technologies for treatment and prevention of mental disorders in low-income and middle-income countries. Of the 49 studies identified, most were preliminary evaluations of feasibility and acceptability. The findings were promising, showing the potential effectiveness of online, text-messaging, and telephone support interventions.”

Mental Health Among Displaced People and Refugees: Making the Case for Action at The World Bank Group

“Forcibly displaced people’s mental health needs have often been neglected in response plans. Yet meeting these needs is critical to help displaced persons overcome trauma and rebuild their lives. Without appropriate mental health care, forcibly displaced people will often be unable to benefit fully from other forms of support that are provided to them. […] A shared commitment is needed from national and international actors to champion mental health parity in the provision of health and social services, including in humanitarian emergencies. High priority should go to identifying alternative sources of financing for mental health parity in health systems.”

TED Talk: Why I train grandmothers to treat depression

“Dixon Chibanda is one of 12 psychiatrists in Zimbabwe – for a population of more than 16 million. Realizing that his country would never be able to scale traditional methods of treating those with mental health issues, Chibanda helped to develop a beautiful solution powered by a limitless resource: grandmothers. In this extraordinary, inspirational talk, learn more about the friendship bench program, which trains grandmothers in evidence-based talk therapy and brings care, and hope, to those in need.”

Guided self-help intervention reduces refugees’ psychological distress and improves wellbeing in humanitarian crises

Where There Is No Psychiatrist. A Mental Health Care Manual.

Where There Is No Psychiatrist – A Mental Health Care Manual. Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2018
“This practical manual of mental health care is vital for community health workers, primary care nurses, social workers and primary care doctors, particularly in low-resource settings. This guide gives the reader a basic understanding of mental illness by describing more than thirty clinical problems associated with mental illness and uses a problem-solving approach to guide the reader through their assessment and management. Mental health issues as they arise in specific contexts are described – in refugee camps, in school health programmes, as well as in mental health promotion.”

Presentation on: Gender-based violence manual for helpers working in Nepal

This Power Point  document is part of the course result  “Introduction to Global Mental Health” with Associate Professor Ragnhild Dybdahl and Senior Advisor Unni M. Heltne responsible for the course. As part of their assignment the students primarily psychology students at University of Bergen, Norway and Tribhuvan University in Nepal, Anil Sharma, Gita Limbu and Alba Banoun have made a presentation about how they have adapted a three-day online webinar based on the “Mental health and gender-based violence Helping survivors of sexual violence in conflict – a training manual” for a Nepali audience. The core topics are: Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Nepal, Brief assessment of needs and resources in Nepal, Their adaptions and challenges in transforming the online training The GBV training manual is available in Nepalese language, you can download it here. Likewise, the Power Point presentation for the three days training is available in English download it here,  and Nepalese language, download it here.
For the power point presentation that were presentet Friday 18th of December please have a look here.
The whole recording of the seminar is possible to watch here.

It’s Torture Not Therapy | A global overview of conversion therapy: practices, perpetrators, and the role of states

The objective of this report is to compile information on the practices, practitioners and roles of states in conducting, supporting, promoting and acquiescing in conversion therapy. This research is intended to provide a framework for examining the practice of conversion therapy through the lens of state obligations to prevent and prosecute torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (also ill-treatment) and to provide redress to victims.
Despite this growing trend, little information is readily available on the global breadth and scope of conversion therapy, which often occurs in the private sphere and represents a set of diverse acts from psychotherapy to ‘corrective’ violence. To our knowledge, the August 2019 report of OutRight Action International is the first comprehensive global report, based on 489 surveys across 80 countries, and convincingly establishes the existence of conversion therapy as a worldwide problem.

Webinar: SR 1325 / Rehabilitation and reintegration for survivors of Gender Based Violence

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3758579911
More information here

Why do they want to kill us?

Defending human rights in Colombia is a high-risk profession, especially for those who protect and promote rights to the territory, to the environment and those linked to access to land. Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world in which to carry out this legitimate and essential activity, according to the organization Global Witness.1 The crisis faced by human rights defenders in Colombia is nothing new but the situation is deteriorating, despite the adoption of a peace agreement and numerous demands from Colombian civil society organizations and the international community that the government address this violence, as the numbers of killings and the hundreds of reports of attacks, harassment and threats faced by defenders clearly illustrate.

Children and Adolescents – Guidelines Position Paper on Complex PTSD

For the past two decades, there has been substantial debate about whether there are qualitatively different symptom profiles that can develop in children from different types of traumatic events and life circumstances. The term “complex trauma” is often used to describe both the presumed causes and the consequences of exposure to traumatic stressors when the child has experienced other significant adversities and is manifesting more severe clinical presentations. The interest in an additional descriptive term or diagnosis has been fueled by trauma-focused treatment trials pointing to the fact that the experiences of many children involve more than the trauma and more than trauma-specific symptoms (e.g., children in foster care, residential treatment, juvenile justice). Efforts to classify these clinical presentations have included a proposed Developmental Trauma Disorder (Ford, et al, 2013).

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Prevention and Treatment Guidelines – Methodology and Recommendations

Based on extensive reviews of the clinical research literature, the ISTSS Prevention and Treatment Guidelines are intended to assist clinicians who provide prevention and treatment interventions for children, adolescents and adults with or at risk of developing PTSD and Complex PTSD. The updated guidelines represent a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of high quality research evidence that is likely to help practitioners in their work.

“The Methodology and Recommendations document was amended on March 19, 2019, as a result of recognition that a study of early treatment for children and adolescents was wrongly classified. This has resulted in the recommendation for early treatment on page 13 being changed to, There is insufficient evidence to recommend Brief CBT-T, CBT-T or Stepped Preventative Care within the first three months of a traumatic event for the treatment of clinically relevant post-traumatic stress symptoms in children and adolescents.”

Wed, 9th Sep. “A Comparison of Interventions for Reduction in Distress – Trauma Healing and Peace Education”

ONE MORE DAY –  Have you signed up for the webinar? “A Comparison of Interventions for Reduction in Distress: Trauma Healing and Peace Education”.
Wed, 9th September, 1PM UTC. With presentations from Florence Ntakarutimana (Catholic Relief Services), Bill Froming (Palo Alto University) and Karen Bronk Froming (Palo Alto University) that focus on the work of Catholic Relief Services in the Central African Republic.
Register: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DF267XN
MHPSS.net is pleased to announce the first webinar in a series organised by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee #MHPSS Reference Group’s working group on ‘MHPSS and Peacebuilding’. This webinar series features case examples of practice in the field linking MHPSS and Peacebuilding objectives and approaches. The approaches and practices shared during this series are not formally endorsed or promoted by the IASC MHPSS Reference Group, but rather are shared in the spirit of enabling dialogue, debate and learning.
Learn more: https://bit.ly/35h7Ler