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Promoting accountability, informing justice processes, and advocating for and with the victims and survivors of human rights abuses.
Promoting accountability, informing justice processes, and advocating for and with the victims and survivors of human rights abuses.
Human rights violations are a global crisis, fueled by political unrest, inequality, and climate-induced displacement, affecting countless vulnerable populations. These violations contribute significantly to global public health issues, as stress and trauma from such adversities lead to severe health disorders and adverse life outcomes.
While there's growing awareness of trauma's impact on health and a call for trauma-informed care, many professionals in various sectors lack the expertise to effectively support trauma-affected individuals. The Stanford Human Rights in Trauma Mental Health Program emphasizes the necessity of integrating trauma mental health understanding into justice systems to fully address the needs of human rights abuse survivors, recognizing that current legal frameworks fall short in accommodating the psychological impacts of trauma.
Our team is collaborating with members of the Guatemalan Congress to draft and refine the first comprehensive mental health law. The proposed changes to the law balance human rights with clinical safety by defining safeguards for the use of evidence-based crisis interventions, clarifying informed consent capacity, and preserving crisis hospital care to ensure safe, effective treatment.
Our Program has worked with inquiry bodies from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to support on trauma-informed approaches to both inquiry and investigation.
The Program has undertaken an extensive analysis of the effects of trauma on survivors of the Khmer Rouge era and performed a comprehensive analysis of the public mental health system in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Our published findings were accepted as evidence in the Extraordinaty Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and used to influence sentencing and reparations in Case 002/1.
Our Vision
Our Vision
The Program is committed to advancing and applying the scientific knowledge of the physical and psychiatric impact of trauma on survivors of human rights abuses with an eye towards informing transitional justice and judicial processes. We achieve this by:
advancing the science of the psychological changes and mental health pathology caused by trauma on individuals, their families, and their communities, over time and between generations;
analyzing and building upon the rich data available in the interdisciplinary scientific literature and developed in specific conflict situations to clearly identify the impact on human psychology of various forms of mass trauma, including genocide, mass killings, rape, and torture;
elucidating the science and/or advocating for survivors’ human rights and access to mental health care across a range of settings, including criminal trials, civil suits for money damages, and asylum proceedings; and
particpating in these transitional justice processes in a range of ways, including by providing expert testimony and reports and consulting with the legal teams prosecuting perpetrators or representing victims.
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