CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Gunay, Hale |
|---|---|
| Title | Right To Mental Health Under International Human Rights: Child Refugees And Asylum-Seekers` Access To Mental Health Services In Turkey And Greece |
| Summary | The right to mental health is a crucial and inseparable part of the right to health as a fundamental human right. However, the right to mental health and mental well-being of people are often neglected by the states. Under the International Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, State Parties’ responsibility to protect, ensure, and fulfill the right to mental health is not limited to its citizens, and the legal obligation should be applied for refugees and asylum-seekers as a nondiscriminatory manner. Refugees and asylum seeker’s right to mental health, and their access to adequate mental health services are crucial. Based on the definition in the 1951 Refugee Convention, a refugee is a person who must leave their country of origin because of the well-founded fear of being executed based on their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, and political opinion. Refugees and asylum-seekers experienced war, torture, rape, and any other forms of harmful and violent events, which results in many refugees and asylum-seekers suffer from severe mental health disorders (Bogic et al., 2015; Ingleby, 2004). Within the refugee population, child refugees are a particularly vulnerable group. Existing literature demonstrates that child refugees and asylum-seekers are subjected to severe mental health issues as well (Fazel & Stein, 2002). This thesis seeks an answer to the question of how the right to the mental health of minor refugees and asylum-seekers is addressed in legislative, institutional, and civil society levels in Turkey and Greece. In the first part, the right to mental health for child asylum-seekers under international human rights is discussed by examining the relevant international human rights treaties, the United Nations General Comments, and case law. In the second part, the asylum laws, institutional structures, barriers to access to mental health services in practice are examined critically. Finally, in the third part, the role of civil society organizations and Turkey and Greece’s cooperation with nonstate actors are examined. As the research methodology for the final section, the author conducted in-depth interviews with child protection officers who work in national and international NGOs. The author does not come from a psychology background; therefore, the interview questions were semi-structured in order to allow the interviewees to explain their discipline and perception freely. |
| Supervisor | Ruiz-Chiriboga, Oswaldo |
| Department | Legal Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/gunay_hale.pdf |
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