Understanding and Addressing Vicarious Trauma in Human Rights Work

Professionals working in human rights - including lawyers, judges, investigators, defendants, and other justice stakeholders - are regularly exposed to harrowing images and accounts of violence, torture, and human suffering. While such exposure is often necessary for justice processes, it carries a hidden occupational hazard: vicarious trauma (VT).

This session/workshop introduces participants to the concept of VT, its impact on mental health and professional functioning, and strategies for both individual and institutional resilience.

The structure of the session will be as follows:

• Introduction (10 min): Why VT matters in the justice and human rights context.
• Core Concepts (20 min): What is VT? Who is at risk? Early warning signs.
• Interactive Discussion (15 min): Real-life scenarios from legal and investigative work; how participants have encountered or managed VT.
• Strategies & Takeaways (15 min): Practical self-care tools and quick organizational considerations.

At the end of the session, participants should leave with foundational knowledge and a toolkit for recognizing and managing VT.

Karen Naimer, JD, MA, LLM, is a leading human rights lawyer with extensive expertise in documenting cases of mass atrocities and conflict-related sexual violence. She has trained judges, prosecutors, and investigators worldwide on trauma-informed approaches to justice and has pioneered institutional strategies to protect the wellbeing of professionals exposed to traumatic material.

Ranit Mishori, MD, MHS, MSc, FAAFP, is a graduate of the IHRL MSc program - is a physician and public health practitioner who worked at the intersection of medicine and human rights for over two decades as a clinician, researcher, and academic educator. She has years of experience training medical, legal, and investigative professionals on trauma and vicarious trauma. In her former role as Senior Medical Advisor at Physicians for Human Rights, she has advised NGOs, justice mechanisms, legal and medical stakeholders, human rights organizations, and contributed to policy documents.