An Examination of a Global Failure to Secure the Rights and Protect the Mental Health of Refugee Children

Abstract

We will be dealing with Article 22 of the UNCRC, which concerns the treatment of refugee children, stating that both accompanied and unaccompanied refugee children should have accommodations made for them that ensure their life and dignity, and alleviate their suffering as much as possible. We will look at negative consequences of forced displacement and time spent in detention centers including but not limited to: depression, anxiety, and PTSD, to name a few. In this presentation, we attempt to show that some of the countries who have ratified the UNCRC are not fully aiding the refugee children in alleviating their suffering. We will describe two studies in detail. The first study, from the UK, documents via self-report the number of traumatic events and symptoms of PTSD in refugee children. The second, from Denmark, documents the effects of displacement on the mental health of the children. We will also be summarizing three other studies further describing the effects of fleeing their countries. To end, we will be presenting a list of recommendations both from the literature and from our point of view. We will describe the Refugee Empowerment Program in Memphis which seeks to address these concerns by offering resources, such as education, for refugee children and their families.