The Need for Adequate, Appropriate, and Accessible Mental Health Care for Forcibly Displaced Populations

Human Rights Research Center
Jul 29
16 min read

July 29, 2026

Forcibly displaced Palestinians in Gaza [Image credit: UN]

Introduction

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that in 2025, there were over 117 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide, including refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people; this number has been growing year after year (UNHCR, n.d.-e).

Forcibly displaced people include refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people (UNHCR, n.d.-e). Refugees have been forced to flee their home country for safety, and their request for refugee status has been approved (UNHCR, n.d.-b). Asylum-seekers have fled their country seeking international protection, but have not been legally recognized as refugees (UNHCR, n.d.-f). Internally displaced people have fled their home due to safety concerns but remain within the country (UNHCR, n.d.-g). What these individuals have in common is that they were forced to leave their home to avoid persecution, war, violence, and/or conflict that violates their human rights.

The Trauma of Refugees

Forced displacement and resettlement are deeply traumatic experiences. Moreover, the decreasing resources are worsening the situation. For example, the international community has become less receptive to refugees. For example, the number of resettled refugees into the United States has decreased since the enactment of the Refugee Act in 1980, with 100,000 in 2024 and 38,000 in 2025 (Migration Policy Institute, n.d.), reaching a historic low of only 7,500 in 2026. Furthermore, the refugee resettlement program was indefinitely suspended in 2025 except for the Afrikaners from South Africa. Similarly, other countries across the world have increasingly adopted a variety of laws and policies intended to limit/decrease the number of refugees entering their country (Appleby, 2024; ICMC, 2025). Therefore, it often takes months to years for forcibly displaced persons to gain refugee status and resettle in a new country (Norman et al., 2026). Consequently, most refugees remain displaced for years due to the slow resettlement process, resettlement denial, and/or ongoing conflicts in their home country (UNHCR, n.d.-c).

Also, humanitarian aid and refugee resettlement programs are facing significant funding cuts (Refugees International, 2025), even though currently, more than 2.5 million people need to be resettled (UNHCR, 2024b). Moreover, only a fraction of refugees receive resettlement in a third country (Bryant et al., 2023).

Many refugees are forced to stay in refugee camps due to their need for essential services like shelter, food, and water. The goal of refugee camps is to have adequate resources, including basic medical care, nutritious food, and sanitary facilities (Malteser International, n.d.). However, these goals are often unachievable due to limited funding/resources and the sheer number of refugees. Many refugee camps are overcrowded, lack running water/electricity, sufficient food, and cleaning drinking water, have poor hygiene conditions, increased risk of disease outbreak, and limited/no access to medical and psychosocial care (Malteser International, n.d.).

The situation is similarly challenging for displaced persons who live outside of refugee camps. Over 60% of the refugees reside in urban areas in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) (Vos & Dempster, 2021), and they face unique challenges, such as limited affordable housing, unstable employment opportunities, and scarce humanitarian aid. Furthermore, the refugees living outside of camps receive less protection, healthcare, education, and provision of basic needs than the refugees in camps (UNHCR, n.d.-c).

These official policies have a significant negative impact on the refugees from different regions. In 2024, over 67% of all refugees remained in “protracted refugee situations”, i.e., when conflict/war in their country has forced mass displaced for over five years, leaving refugees stuck in camps or in the middle of conflict for years and sometimes even decades (UNHCR, 2024b).

Palestinian Refugees

Palestinians have been continually forcibly displaced from their homes since the Al Nakba in 1948 (Citino, Gil, & Norman, 2023), resulting in approximately 7 million refugees worldwide, with over 5.9 million living in the Middle Eastern regions, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank (Citino, Gil, & Norman, 2023; UNRWA, n.d.-a).

However, the UNHCR, the UN’s main refugee agency, does not serve Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza (UNRWA, n.d.-b). Instead, Palestinian refugees in these areas are served by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) (UNRWA, n.d.-b). The situation is problematic because the UNHCR responds to humanitarian emergencies and finds suitable long-term solutions for displaced refugees, while UNRWA focuses on service provision, including education, health care, relief, and social services, but not on long-term solutions such as resettlement. Consequently, millions of Palestinian refugees are stuck with no path forward.

The significant cuts to the already-low funding for UNRWA worsen the situation for millions of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) area, leaving them in poverty without access to adequate nutrition, healthcare, or education. Furthermore, Palestinian refugees living in displaced states or resettled in host countries still face several challenges and barriers, such as limited access to health care, education, employment, and basic human rights, in addition to the unstable political climate in many host countries (Citino, Gil, & Norman, 2023).

Sudan

The crisis in Sudan began with the Darfur crisis in 2003 (UNHCR, n.d.-d), a genocide classified by the International Criminal Court (ICC) (Al-Shahi, 2026) that left hundreds of thousands killed and over 2 million forcibly displaced. Violence, conflict, and political instability have continued since, with a notable escalation in April 2023 (Al-Shahi, 2026) that caused its refugee displacement crisis to become the largest and fastest-growing in the world (International Rescue Committee, 2026; IRC).

Of the 14 million people who have been forcibly displaced since the 2023 civil war, 5 million fled to countries such as Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan, while almost 9 million remain internally displaced in Sudan living without consistent access to essentials, such as food, water, and health care (Ferragamo & Roy, 2026). Additionally, almost 75% of Sudan’s hospitals have been destroyed and more than half of the Sudanese struggle to access food, with over 10 million people facing famine conditions (IRC, 2026). One of the five largest refugee camps in the world are currently hosting Sudanese refugees who have been forced to flee (UNHCR, 2023). Moreover, the situation for Sudanese refugees in other countries is equally dire due to recent aid cuts (Ventevogel, N’Dri, & Djogo, 2026).

Sudanese refugee camp in Chad [Image credit: MSF]

Rohingya

The Rohingya are one of the world’s largest stateless populations forced to flee from military violence and persecution (UNHCR, 2026). Since 1977, they have been stuck in a state of forced displacement with no home, stripped of rights and citizenship, as well as torture, abuse, and violence (MSF, 2025). Their situation worsened in 2017, following another military conflict that forced more than 750,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh (UNHCR, 2026). In 2025, more than 1.4 million Rohingya remained displaced in Myanmar, while over 1 million Rohingya refugees live in the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh, the largest refugee camp in the world (UNHCR, 2023), and the nearby camps. While almost all Rohingyas in Bangladesh depend on humanitarian assistance. Food, clean water, sanitation, housing, and education have been inadequate in these camps over the past 30 years (MSF, 2025; UNHCR, 2026). Furthermore, recent cuts in funding have had catastrophic impacts.

Mental Health of Refugee Populations

The regional conflicts that have displaced millions not only have detrimental impacts on the refugees’ physical health but also adverse effects on their mental health (Bunn et al., 2023). Also, because they have to focus on their physical safety and moving from place to place, it is more difficult for them to establish stability and access any form of continuous care. Moreover, individuals resettled in a new country experience significant barriers to receiving mental health care, including language barriers, stigma, limited financial means, and a lack of culturally responsive interventions (United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, 2024).

Current estimates suggest over 30% of refugees meet criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Nickerson et al., 2011), which is significantly higher than the general population (Song, n.d.). Many refugees experience multiple traumas that result in something more complex, i.e., Complex PTSD (C-PTSD; WHO, 2019). In addition to elevated rates of traumatic stress, refugees are also substantially more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and suicidality (WHO, 2025a).

Refugees face numerous pre-migration, migration, and post-migration traumatic stressors (Nickerson et al., 2011). During pre-migration, many refugees live in poverty with exposure to significantly higher rates of repeated, ongoing traumas, including abduction, torture, genocide, starvation, bombings, and physical and sexual abuse (Tissue et al., 2023). Many individuals are separated from their loved ones or witness the death of their loved ones. Moreover, the migration process is often very unsafe and can take many months with limited access to food, water, shelter, and health care. Post-migration, refugees are often stuck living in refugee camps or remain in a displaced state for many years. The experience of the Palestinian people is an example (UNHCR, n.d.-c).

For the refugees living in camps, they have little access to mental health care.

Even before the escalation of the civil war, around 12.3% of the Sudanese who were internally displaced before the war suffered from PTSD (Hemmeda et al., 2025), yet there were only 0.92 mental health workers per 100,000 people in Sudan (Mohammed et al., 2025). After the escalation, those rates skyrocketed, compounded by the closure of all 12 psychiatric hospitals in Sudan (Mohammed et al., 2025). Sudanese refugees in neighboring countries, such as Chad, also struggled to receive mental health care, further straining the local system that was already strained with resources (Ventevogel, N’Dri & Djogo, 2026). Consequently, depression, anxiety, and PTSD became prevalent amongst Sudanese refugees.

Similarly, the Rohingya refugees experience elevated rates of PTSD, anxiety, and depression (Ritsema & Armstrong-Hough, 2022). Most individuals reported having experienced at least one traumatic event. As post-migration stressors have been associated with an increased risk for depression, there are significant challenges with providing mental health care for the Rohingya people (Jahan et al., 2024). Moreover, the refugee camps, such as the Kutupalong camp, have few resources, including very few mental health providers. Even when mental health providers are available, the Rohingya are often resistant to mental health care and prefer to seek spiritual care as they believe mental health challenges are the result of supernatural forces. In addition, the language differences between the Bangladeshi aid workers and the Rohingya further compound the challenge.

For the fraction of refugees able to be resettled into a new host country, they still experience many post-migration stressors, such as acculturation stress, difficulty in navigating the policies and systems in a new country, uncertain visa status/fear of deportation, language barriers, and separation from family and loved ones (Tissue et al., 2023). Moreover, many resettled refugees struggle to find stable employment and experience discrimination, exclusion, and social isolation. These post-migration stressors can prolong and worsen their pre-existing mental health symptoms (Bryant et al., 2023). Furthermore, these same stressors, such as language differences, limited financial means, and difficulty navigating new systems, become barriers to refugees receiving care (United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, 2024).

In addition to these barriers faced by refugees resettled in developed nations, such as the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom, many refugees and displaced individuals in refugee camps, in nearby host countries, or stuck in the conflict in their home country face consequential structural barriers to care.

While the experience of Palestinian refugees mirrors some of the experiences of the Sudanese and Rohingya refugees—over 65% of displaced Palestinians experience PTSD while more than 79% experience moderate to severe levels of depression and anxiety (Aldabbour et al., 2025)—the Palestinians face the unique challenge of transgenerational trauma.

Transgenerational trauma, the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next, is common in the descendants of refugees (Veronese et al., 2023). Transgenerational trauma has a significant impact on well-being and is transmitted through narratives, memories, parental trauma, poor living conditions, and biological mechanisms (APA, 2024). Thus, the trauma of one’s parents and grandparents inevitably impacts them, even if they do not have direct exposure. As such, many second- and later-generation Palestinians remain forcibly displaced while continuing to experience instability, poverty, and violence (Veronese et al., 2023), and their conditions further exacerbate their transgenerational trauma.

For example, over half of the Palestinian refugees in the MENA region depend on UNWRA for care, yet in 2023 UNWRA was forced to close 14 of its 22 health centers (UNRWA, 2024). Furthermore, Gaza’s only mental health hospital was destroyed in 2023, and all the medical hospitals were destroyed or significantly damaged (Shaheen et al., 2025; WHO, 2025b). The hospitals that are still functioning are focused on treating medical emergencies (WHO, 2025b). Furthermore, the prevalence of mental health issues is likely underestimated, as many refugees are unwilling or unable to seek care.

The Pathway Forward

A crucial part of the pathway forward for refugee mental health care is to mobilize the global community into action. Recent funding cuts have had a detrimental impact on global mental health programs, cutting access to care for hundreds of thousands of people (Soudi, 2024). Over 70% of refugees are hosted in LMICs, yet these countries are already under-resourced (UNHCR, 2024a). LMICs spend only around 1% of the total government health expenditure on mental health care (Mahomed, 2020). Moreover, mental health funding received less than 1% of the total global development assistance for health (Gribble, Liese, & Wickremsinhe, 2021). Consequently, mental health has not been a top priority for the international community. The international community must recognize refugee mental health as a crucial issue and that funding is necessary to change the landscape of global mental health (Soudi, 2024).

Increasing the availability of mental health care for refugees is only the first step. Mental health care needs to be culturally relevant and accessible for it to be effective (Bunn et al., 2023).

The current mental health care takes a primarily Westernized, individualistic approach to care, which is often not compatible with the worldview of many refugees who come from collectivistic backgrounds (Nickerson et al., 2011). The causes of mental health challenges and pathways to healing in Westernized cultures are often different from those in non-Western cultures (Bunn et al., 2023).

Additionally, the symptoms of the same disorder may manifest differently in individuals from different cultures (Bunn et al., 2023). Many non-Western cultures focus on more traditional and/or spiritual methods of healing (Mohammed et al., 2025). Therefore, even when care is available, many refugees may not seek mental health care because of the stigma around it, their mistrust of the providers, and the cultural differences between them and the providers (Song, n.d.). Thus, coordinating care to include religious leaders, community elders, and traditional healers will be critical to decreasing the cultural stigma and providing effective mental health care (Bunn et al., 2023).

For the next step, it will be crucial to train local mental health professionals and develop community-based interventions, where non-professionals are trained to provide psychosocial care, to help address the shortage in mental health care in host countries and refugee camps (Kestel, Chisholm, & Schafer, 2025). Notably, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been focused on developing a wide variety of community-based, scalable mental health interventions (Sijbrandij et al., 2017); this is a great step in the right direction. In addition, funding needs to be increased to train medical translators. Sociopolitical systems worldwide need to change to prioritize those most in need. The international community needs to resettle more refugees and provide more funding and resources to support them.

Conclusion

There are a myriad of forcibly displaced situations occurring all over the world with millions of people being forced to flee their homes to escape violence, wars, and persecutions. Individuals fleeing their home often remain in displaced situations, whether in a host country or in a refugee camp, for many years. Resources are far from sufficient in these situations, with basic necessities often unmet. Moreover, displaced populations face a wide array of pre-migration, migration, and post-migration stressors that have detrimental impacts on their physical and mental health. While rates of mental health challenges are higher in displaced populations compared to the general population, displaced populations face significant barriers to accessing mental health care. Recent funding cuts have intensified both the physical and mental health effects of protracted displacement situations as well as reduced the availability of accessible mental health care. A social justice and human rights approach to healing is needed. The full support from the global community working together is needed to make mental health care the human right it should be. Forcibly displaced individuals, just like everyone else in this world, should be treated with respect and dignity, and should be empowered to be an active agent in their journey of healing.

Glossary

Asylum seeker: individuals who have fled their country and are seeking international protection, but they have not yet been legally recognized as a refugee
Collectivistic culture: emphasizes the importance of group values over personal aspirations, prioritizing harmonious relationships and interdependence among members of a community
Forcibly displaced people: umbrella term for all individuals who have been displaced from their home due to safety concerns or human rights violations, including wars, conflicts, and persecution
Internally displaced people: individuals who fled their home due to safety concerns but remain within their own country
Individualistic culture: emphasizes the independence and autonomy of the individual, prioritizing personal rights and self-fulfillment over collective needs
Refugee: individuals who have been forced to flee their home country for their safety
Refugee camps: temporary facilities built to provide immediate protection and assistance to people who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution or violence
Transgenerational Trauma: when traumatic events experienced by one generation are “passed down” and negatively impact future generations; also known as intergenerational trauma
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution

References

Al-Shahi, A. (2026, June 10). Sudan - darfur conflict, genocide, war crimes | Britannica.
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Sudan/Conflict-in-Darfur
Aldabbour, B., El-Jamal, M., Abuabada, A., Al-Dardasawi, A., Abusedo, E., Abu Daff, H., ... &
Dardas, L. A. (2025). The psychological toll of war and forced displacement in Gaza: a study on anxiety, PTSD, and depression. Chronic Stress, 9, 24705470251334943.
American Immigration Council. (2025, May 19). An overview of U.S. refugee law and policy. American Immigration Council. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/overview-us-refugee-law-and-policy/
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
American Psychological Association. (2024). Individual, collective, and intergenerational trauma recovery: Considering the restorative roles of restitution and reparations.
Appleby, K. (2024, April 30). How Europe is slowly closing its doors to asylum-seekers - The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). Center for Migration Studies . https://cmsny.org/how-europe-closing-doors-to-asylum-seekers/
Billings, J., & Nicholls, H. (2025). PTSD and complex PTSD, current treatments and debates: a review of reviews. British Medical Bulletin, 156(1), ldaf015.
Bryant, R. A., Nickerson, A., Morina, N., & Liddell, B. (2023). Posttraumatic stress disorder in refugees. Annual review of clinical psychology, 19(1), 413-436.
Bunn, M., Khanna, D., Farmer, E., Esbrook, E., Ellis, H., Richard, A., & Weine, S. (2023). Rethinking mental healthcare for refugees. SSM-Mental Health, 3, 100196.
Citino, N., Gil, A. M., & Norman, K. (2023, May 3). Generations of Palestinian refugees face protracted displacement and dispossession. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/palestinian-refugees-dispossession
Ferragamo, M., & Roy, D. (2026, April 14). Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, explained. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/articles/what-extent-sudans-humanitarian-crisis
Gribble, R. S., Liese, B. H., & Wickremsinhe, M. N. (2021). An analysis of funding patterns in development assistance for mental health: who, when, what, and where. Global Mental Health, 8, e1.
Hemmeda, L., Ahmed, A. S., Fadlalmoula, G. A. A. G. A., Hassan, D. R., Awad, M. H., Salim, G., ... & Ahmed, K. A. H. M. (2025). Displacement-related stressors in a Sudanese war-affected community; identifying the impact of war exposure and ongoing stressors on trauma symptom severity: a national multi-center cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 25(1), 1325.
The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC). (2025, November 26). Evaluating the impact of global policies on refugee movements. https://www.icmc.net/2025/11/26/evaluating-the-impact-of-global-policies-on-refugee-movements/
International Rescue Committee. (2026, April 14). Crisis in Sudan: What is happening and how to help. https://www.rescue.org/article/crisis-sudan-what-happening-and-how-help.
Jahan, R., Amin, R., & Arafat, S. Y. (2024). Practical challenges for mental health services among Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 97, 104069.
Kestel, D., Chisholm, D., & Schafer, A. (2025). The WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health: increasing access to mental health services for millions of people. World Psychiatry, 24(1), 137.
Malteser International. (n.d.). Home. Malteser International. https://www.malteser-international.org/en/current-issues/refugees-and-displacement/refugee-camps.html
Medecins Sans Frontieres. (2025, August 25). Rohingya crisis timeline & summary of Events | Doctors without borders. Doctors Without Borders. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/timeline-rohingya-crisis
Migration Policy Institute (MPI) analysis of WRAPS data from the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. Available at www.wrapsnet.org/admissions-and-arrivals/.
Mahomed, F. (2020). Addressing the problem of severe underinvestment in mental health and well-being from a human rights perspective. Health and human rights, 22(1), 35.
Mohammed, F. E. A., Altamih, R. A. A., Elgailani, U. S. A., Khalid, R. F. E., Alhassan, F. E. A., Ibrahim, R. A. Y., & Ahmed, H. A. A. (2025). Sudan’s forgotten generation: confronting the mental health crisis. BMJ Global Health, 10(6).
Nickerson, A., Bryant, R. A., Silove, D., & Steel, Z. (2011). A critical review of psychological treatments of posttraumatic stress disorder in refugees. Clinical psychology review, 31(3), 399-417.
Norman, K., Gil, A. M., Icduygu, A., & Dalkiran, M. (2026, May 14). Protracted displacement in the Middle East and North Africa. Baker Institute. https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/protracted-displacement-middle-east-and-north-africa
Ritsema, H., & Armstrong-Hough, M. (2023). Associations among past trauma, post-displacement stressors, and mental health outcomes in Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: a secondary cross-sectional analysis. Frontiers in public health, 10, 1048649.
Refugees International. (2026, February 5). A generational collapse: Tracking the toll of Trump’s humanitarian aid cuts. https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-briefs/a- generational-collapse-tracking-the-toll-of-trumps-humanitarian-aid-cuts/
Shaheen, A. A., Ashour, Y., Joma, A., & Abuzerr, S. (2025). Repercussions of the destruction of Gaza's sole psychiatric hospital. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 31(2), 79-80.
Sijbrandij, M., Acarturk, C., Bird, M., Bryant, R. A., Burchert, S., Carswell, K., ... & Cuijpers, P. (2017). Strengthening mental health care systems for Syrian refugees in Europe and the Middle East: integrating scalable psychological interventions in eight countries. European journal of psychotraumatology, 8(sup2), 1388102.
Song, S., & Teichholtz, S. (n.d.). Mental Health Facts on Refugees, asylum-seekers, & survivors of forced displacement. American Psychiatric Association. https://www.psychiatry.org/getmedia/9d2de01e-babc-4e04-8f01-16f3f75ff1cd/Mental-Health-Facts-for-Refugees.pdf
Song, S. (n.d.). Working with refugee and forced displacement patients. Psychiatry.org – Working with Refugee and Forced Displacement Patients. https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/diversity/education/best-practice-highlights/working-with-refugee-and-forced-displacement-patie
Soudi, L. (2024, October 2). The Silent Crisis: Why Mental Health Must Be Central to Humanitarian Aid for Refugees. UC Global Health Institute. https://ucghi.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/silent-crisis-why-mental-health-must-be-central-humanitarian-aid-refugees/
Tissue, A., Specker, P., Hoffman, J., Uppal, S., Cloitre, M., Neuner, F., ... & Nickerson, A. (2023). Skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation for refugees integrated with narrative exposure therapy: A case study on the treatment of PTSD and emotion dysregulation for refugees and asylum-seekers. Clinical Case Studies, 22(3), 285-306.
United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). (2024a, May 9). Barriers and access to mental health care. U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. https://refugees.org/mental-health-awareness-month-barriers-and-access-to-mental-health-care/
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (n.d.-a). Mental Health and Psychosocial Support. UNHCR US. https://www.unhcr.org/us/what-we-do/protect-human-rights/public-health/mental-health-and-psychosocial-support
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (2024a). Global trends report 2024. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-report-2024
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (n.d.-b). Refugees. UNHCR US. https://www.unhcr.org/us/about-unhcr/who-we-protect/refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (n.d.-c). What is a refugee camp? definition and statistics | USA for UNHCR. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). https://www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/camps/
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (2024b, June 5). 2025 global refugee resettlement needs Spike to almost 3 million. UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/news/press-releases/unhcr-2025-global-refugee-resettlement-needs-spike-almost-3-million
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (2026, January 23). Rohingya refugee crisis explained. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). https://www.unrefugees.org/news/rohingya-refugee-crisis-explained/
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (n.d.-d). Sudan Emergency. USA for UNHCR | The UN Refugee Agency. https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/sudan/
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (n.d.-e). Forcibly displaced and stateless population categories. UNHCR Refugee Statistics. https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/insights/explainers/forcibly-displaced-pocs.html
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (n.d.-f). Asylum-seekers. UNHCR US. https://www.unhcr.org/us/about-unhcr/who-we-protect/asylum-seekers
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (n.d.-g). Internally displaced people. UNHCR US. https://www.unhcr.org/us/about-unhcr/who-we-protect/internally-displaced-people
United Nations Relief and Works Agency. (n.d.-a). Palestine refugees | unrwa. United Nations Relief and Works Agency. https://www.unrwa.org/palestine-refugees
United Nations Relief and Works Agency. (n.d.-b). Frequently asked questions | UNRWA. https://www.unrwa.org/who-we-are/frequently-asked-questions
United Nations Relief and Works Agency. (2024, May 28). Palestine refugees face unprecedented health challenges to amid Gaza War: UNRWA annual health report | UNRWA. https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/news-releases/palestine-refugees-face-unprecedented-health-challenges-amid-gaza-war
Veronese, G., Mahamid, F., & Bdier, D. (2023). Transgenerational trauma and collective resilience: A qualitative analysis of the experiences of settler-colonial violence among three generations of Palestinian refugees. International journal of social psychiatry, 69(7), 1814-1824.
Ventevogel, P., Eric-Didier, K. N., & Djogo, E. A. (2026). Sudanese refugees in Chad: addressing overwhelming mental health needs through sustainable partnerships. BJPsych Open, 12(2).
World Health Organization. (2025a, September 1). Refugee and migrant mental health. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/refugee-and-migrant-mental-health
World Health Organization. (2025b, October). Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) functionality in Gaza. https://www.emro.who.int/images/stories/palestine/MHPSS_Functionality_-_Final.pdf

HRRC accepts NO funding from governments for our research or campaigns. At every step of the way, our impact is made possible because of people like YOU. Make your contribution now!