Radosavljevic, Dragana (2013) The right to rehabilitation in international criminal law and the role of mental health professionals in the post-conflict reconciliation process. In: XXXIII International Congress on Law and Mental Health, 14-19 Jul 2013, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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Abstract

The present paper investigates the parameters of the right to rehabilitation of war criminals and veterans under international criminal law and seeks to identify specific rights in relation to health, in this context mental health, as means towards social re-integration and ultimately, reconciliation. The paper highlights inherent problems associated with immediate post-war inequalities in accessing mental health resources between military personnel, veterans and convicted war criminals on one hand and victims of the conflict on the other, who are more likely to be recipients of reconstruction efforts and help from international organisations. Dealing with mental health issues of those who have or are perceived to have committed crimes, or have been convicted of war crimes, is more difficult, as this requires greater social and political will as well as infrastructure.
The paper then explores roles and scope of mental health professionals in post-conflict rehabilitation process of war criminals and veterans as well as the role of those professionals in facilitating social reconciliation. Generally, military rules provide little privilege on information offered by those seeking therapy, such as admissions of war crimes, which may result, through the suppression of guilt, anxiety or depression for instance, in misdiagnosis and/or aggravation of symptoms for which help is sought in the first place. Two issues are considered here. Firstly, the extent to which military confidentiality rules hinder psychotherapist-patient relationship and secondly, the impact this has on the effectiveness on collective reconciliation, coupled with issues of stigmatization of mental health.

Item Type:	Conference or Conference Paper (Paper)
Additional Information:	[1] Abstract published in Section 152. Torture & Abuse, in: Abstracts of the XXXIIIrd International Congress on Law and Mental Health. [2] Presented at XXXIII International Congress on Law and Mental Health, held 14-19 July 2013, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	conflict, mental health, right to rehabilitation,social reparation
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2016 09:26
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/11038

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