Deadline for Submission of Abstracts: 15 May 2025

Decision whether Abstract has been selected: 15 June 2025

Deadline for Submission of Full Papers: 15 November 2025

Armed conflicts, whether international or non-international, have profound and far-reaching consequences on the mental health and psychological well-being of civilian individuals, families, and communities. Those consequences are aggravated when the legal frameworks, including those protecting health, are not respected. Exposure to hostilities, acts terrorizing the civilian population, sexual violence, displacement, deprivation of liberty, ill-treatment, loss, despair, and trauma can lead to both immediate and long-term psychological harm. 

Soldiers, and humanitarians are not immune either from psychological harm, which may relate to taking part in military or humanitarian operations under difficult and stressful conditions. Moreover, 10 years after the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 2286, dealing with the protection of medical care in situations of armed conflict, violence against healthcare personnel and facilities in countries affected by armed conflict around the globe has not decreased. 

Despite the growing recognition of mental health issues in conflict zones, as illustrated by the adoption of the Resolution “Addressing mental health and psychosocial needs of people affected by armed conflicts, natural disasters and other emergencies” at the 2019 International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, as well as UN General Assembly Resolution 77/300 “Mental health and psychosocial support” from 2023, the integration of mental health care within humanitarian interventions remains challenging.

To complement the scientific literature in this area, the Review is compiling a special edition exploring the law, policy and practice pertaining to preventing and addressing the nexus between mental health and armed conflict. The need for a robust and multifaceted approach—spanning legal frameworks, policy guidance, and effective humanitarian response—is critical indeed to alleviating the burden of mental health crises among all those affected by armed conflicts.

Call for proposals

This call seeks proposals for papers that examine mental health in and resulting from armed conflicts through a range of academic lenses, with a focus on perspectives from international law, policy, and action. Submissions may cover, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Mental health: Psychological and psychosocial impact of armed conflict

• The mental health and psychosocial impact of conflict on civilians in general: exacerbation of previously existing mental health conditions; creation of new ones.
• The psychological impact on specific categories of persons not taking a direct part in hostilities, such as children, women, displaced persons, persons with disabilities, those deprived of their liberty and weapon wounded persons.
• Addressing the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) needs of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, including when sexual violence is deliberately used a tactic/strategy of war. 
• Mental health and psychosocial support of families of missing persons, including the notion of “ambiguous loss” and how to address it, for example, with children.
• Strategies for resilience-building and community-based mental health and psychosocial support.
• The mental health needs of military personnel and peacekeepers in conflict zones, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety or sleeping disorders for mental health needs of military personnel.
• Moral injury impacting humanitarian professionals and volunteers. 

The protection of mental health under international law applicable in armed conflicts 

• The role of international law in preventing and addressing various forms of mental harm inflicted by armed conflict.
• Mental harm and the principle of proportionality in the conduct of hostilities.
• The protection of mental health care professionals under international law.
• Revisiting the prohibition of “acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population” in a contemporary perspective.
• How international law deals with MHPSS needs of persons deprived of their liberty.

Policy responses to mental health in conflict zones

• National and international policy approaches to mental health care in conflict-affected areas.
• The role of humanitarian organizations and other actors (national or international) in addressing mental health needs.
• Policies for integrating mental health care into wider humanitarian assistance programs.
• Lessons learned and best practices from existing mental health programs in conflict zones.
• The role of victims / survivor organizations.

Mental health and humanitarian action

• The barriers to providing mental health services in conflict zones.
• The role of mental health professionals in conflict settings in general, and in specific situations, such as detention settings.
• Innovative models and best practices for mental health care in humanitarian emergencies, for example how to link physical rehabilitation with mental health services.
• The work of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement on mental health and psychosocial support.
• The Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and humanitarian action related to mental health. 

 

Post-conflict mental health and reconstruction

• MHPSS as a component of post-conflict recovery and reconstruction efforts.
• Long-term MHPSS interventions in post-conflict societies.
• Addressing the MHPSS needs of returning refugees and internally displaced persons.
• Examining the role of MHPSS in facilitating the reintegration of released Prisoners of War 
• MHPSS response in the reintegration of persons repatriated from conflict zones.
• Transitional justice, reconciliation, and MHPSS in post-conflict settings.
• Transgenerational trauma.

Submitting your proposal

We invite anyone interested to submit a proposal by 15 May 2025. That proposal should consist of an abstract of maximum 500 words, as well as a biography of maximum 300 words (or a CV). Note that, if you are invited to submit a paper based on your proposal, the target length for a completed traditional article should be between 8,000 and 10,000 words, including footnotes – though we are open to proposals for other formats, such as opinion notes. Our selection process will prioritize innovative proposals focusing on international humanitarian law, humanitarian policy and / or humanitarian action and which have a clear potential to contribute to, and advance, legal and policy debates in this space in the years ahead. In your 500-word abstract, please include:

1. Proposed title;
2. The main arguments you intend to develop; and,
3. An explanation as to how your topic adds to the existing literature and fits within the Review’s editorial line.

Please note the Review reserves the right not to publish anything which may jeopardize ICRC operations. 

Please send your abstract and bio as a single Word document to [email protected] and ensure that “Proposal: Mental Health and Armed Conflict” is in the email’s subject line. Note that, in line with our ongoing commitment to provide a space for a diverse array of voices in this field, we encourage submissions by established and emerging voices alike. You will be notified as to the status of your proposal by 15 June 2025. If you are invited to submit a full-length article, a draft of your completed article will be due no later than 15 November 2025.