Legal Instruments Related to Refugees’ Mental Health Care: From Greek Legislation to Practice

Abstract

Since the titled Global Refugee Crisis of 2013, the number of refugees has been constantly increasing. In 2018, the global number of persons of concern identified by UNHCR was 70.8 million, of which more than 25.9 million were refugees, and about half of them were below the age of 18. Refugees are subjected to multiple risk factors before, during, and after their displacement. Besides, the conditions why they had to flee their countries, the insecurity, and anxiety connected to their future, inter alia, are among the stressors that may affect refugees mental well-being. The relation between the existing international instruments related to refugees, mainly those concerning their right to health and the actual care they receive, compose complex scenery that asks for more attention to allow refugees to have positive outcomes, such as improving their mental well-being, which assists in social inclusion. This paper aimed at showing the gap between active mental health care rights and government practices, specifically those within the Greek context. This was made through exploratory research of qualitative nature, based on literature from the period of 2009-2019 and legal and international documents related to descriptors such as mental health care and refugees.