Building a trauma-informed approach to accountability for IS crimes

When investigating atrocities committed by terrorist organizations like ISIL in Iraq, investigators rely on the testimony of victims to bring the truth to light and ensure justice. But the process of investigating these crimes can perpetuate more harm and trauma if not conducted in a way that is culturally appropriate and sensitive to the victims. 

To protect and center the victims’ rights, dignity, and agency during the investigation of war crimes, Stanford University’s Human Rights in Trauma Mental Health Program recently partnered with UNITAD (the United Nations investigative team tasked with holding ISIL, or Da’Esh, accountable for its crimes) to develop an unprecedented Trauma-Informed Investigations Field Guide. 

The Stanford and the UNITAD team based in Iraq together initially launched the field guide in 2021. It outlines the role of trauma-informed approaches to working with witnesses and survivors and is now accompanied by a full reference manual that was just published this spring. 

“Some of this work has been done before, but some of it is pretty new, progressive, unusual, and, I think, fantastic,” said Stanford Global Health Faculty Fellow Daryn Reicherter in an April 22 talk on building a trauma-informed approach to the investigation of war crimes, hosted by Stanford’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice and Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies. “We’ve gone a step farther to develop and build capacity to support survivors of ISIS.” 

Reicherter, director of the Human Rights in Trauma Mental Health Program and clinical professor in Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, moderated the recent talk highlighting this work, which featured United Nations clinical psychologists Nenna Ndukwe, Sarah Alcalay, and Chinedu Ezemokwe. 

Reicherter and his UN colleagues believe their guide represents a significant step forward in helping legal advocates, investigators, first responders, and mental health practitioners understand trauma related to human rights abuses and equipping them with better training and support to work with survivors — while also guiding justice systems’ approach to addressing atrocities in a way that acknowledges trauma’s lasting effects on individuals, families, and communities.