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Europe Must Act

The Impact of Structural Violence

As we've headed away from the WHO’s World Mental Health day and into the UN’s Disarmament week, we, at Europe Must Act, couldn't help but think about the connections between the two and how they relate to people on the move. 


All weapons, whether they’re nuclear, cyber, or conventional, have (or have had) devastating and enduring physical and psychological effects on those who experience their use in conflict. They constitute a significant reason for why people have to flee their homes and why many asylum seekers and refugees eventually settle in Europe. 

A tank left to rust at the side of the road

Image sourced from Unsplash


Simply put, more disarmament means fewer people are forcibly uprooted from their families, communities, and homes, and fewer people are left to deal with the mental repercussions this entails.


Going beyond this, we began to consider the lesser acknowledged, structural forms of violence that so many on the move experience. These forms of violence are difficult to avoid (even when asylum seekers and refugees have sought safety in Europe[1]) and, although less tangible than the weapons listed above, they also have the capacity to violate human rights and damage mental health. 


So, as “stop structural violence” doesn’t have its own international day (yet) to raise awareness, we’ve decided to dedicate an article to these forms of violence here, as our attempt to acknowledge these weapons and call for action to prevent them. 


But, what is structural violence?


In a nutshell: 


In contrast to direct violence, structural violence refers to the systematic ways in which social structures harm or disadvantage individuals and groups. These systemic harms are usually enacted in the form of policies, institutions, and cultural norms that perpetuate injustice and prevent people from thriving. 


So, rather than posing a direct threat to a person’s life, structural and institutional violence often relates to certain social inequalities and systems that create marginalised communities without any direct physical harm. 


For example, a recent EU study found that women of colour, migrant women, overweight women, older women and disabled women were all more likely to experience obstetric and gynaecological violence during childbirth, highlighting the disparities in Europe. 


Similarly, as structural violence can also refer to the denial of basic necessities such as air, water, food or sanitation or by constraining options for movement, it can be used as the lens through which to understand the conditions that have often been reported in many of Europe’s refugee camps, both in academia[2] and by organisations on the ground


Tent reflecting in river under cloudy sky in twilight

Image sourced from Pexels


Devastatingly, what these examples show is how structural violence can be enacted in multiple different ways with varying impacts including the threat to life and violation of human rights. 


We can see it as a form of “slow violence”, a delayed destruction, distributed across space and time, and often out of sight. But, recognising the impact it has, we’re able to highlight how conflict is often not just about immediate violence but the slow and deadly trickle effect of malnutrition and disease or the mental abuse that is caused through systematic marginalisation. 


Violence in conflict and the impact on mental health and social life


Structural violence is also exacerbated when countries are in a state of conflict as the chaos amplifies extreme conditions of deprivation and oppression and the poorer, more vulnerable groups are victims of unequal distribution of wealth and resources[3]. What’s more, structural violence often coexists with and is utilised as an additional weapon by groups and states who are engaged in conflict[4] or who use violence for political gain (political violence). 


The WHO Closing the Gap in a Generation report outlines how inclusion and active participation in society is vital to the health and wellbeing of citizens, and actively lends itself to the health of the collective functioning of society itself as a whole. 


As such, political and structural violence intertwines and decreases citizens’ abilities to engage with and trust social and political life, thereby forcing them to withdraw from political processes and society, effectively rupturing the social fabric and community functioning. 


Individuals can be forced to isolate themselves from larger communities or social institutions, finding themselves unable or unwilling to interact with others for collective purposes, fueled by a growing sense of suspicion and mistrust for their social environment. 


In this way, these forms of violence can impact individuals on a micro and macro level, inhibiting them from accessing healthcare, education and employment, and destroying the social networks that are so central to the wellbeing of individuals and collectives. 


In fact, according to Sousa, structural violence is inseparable from political and cultural violence as they progressively worsen community functioning and social cohesion by:

  • Damaging the cultural identity of a group through “mass killings and displacement, destruction of meaningful places, and control of space and movement;”[5]

  • Hindering the functioning of communities by instilling fear, and destroying or prohibiting social networks or community-organised activities. 


When deployed together, collective fear and collective hatred work to further embed conflict and violence, forcing people to flee from immediate threats to their lives and cultural identities. 


Ultimately, when viewed collectively we begin to see how, under closer inspection, the outcomes of structural violence can become somewhat indistinguishable from those enacted using conventional weapons. And, while structural violence “is covert, static, and lacks a clear aggressor”[6], its impact remains destructive and there is an equal need for measures to prevent it.


What can we do to prevent structural violence?

Policy reform is crucial to preventing structural violence. This means placing our efforts in education, empowerment, and community development. In doing so we can drive change and fight against laws and regulations that perpetuate inequality and discrimination.


Wondering where to start?


Here are some accessible ideas:


  • Write to your European Member of parliament.

  • Volunteer or connect with a local human rights organization.

  • Join Europe Must Act and help us continue to raise awareness and advocate for the rights of people on the move.

  • Look out for our upcoming report on the health and mental health of people on the move, to find out more.


Protestors on the Island of Samos, holding white banners that say "No to isolation and invisibility" and "Yes to human rights"

[1] Orsini, G., Rota, M., Uzureau, O., Behrendt, M., Adeyinka, S., Lietaert, I., & Derluyn, I. (2022). Loops of Violence(s) Within Europe’s Governance of Migration in Libya, Italy, Greece, and Belgium. Politics and Governance, 10(2), 256-266. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i2.5183

[2] Davies, Thonm, Isakjee, Arshad, and Dhesi, Surindar. (2017). Violent Inaction: The Necropolitical Experience of Refugees in Europe. Antipode. 

[3]  Moser, Caroline O.N. and Clark, Fiona C. (eds.) (2001) Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence. London: Zed Books. See also Mahakul, Bibhuti. (2014). Political Violence. International Journal of Science and Research Publication, 4, 1-10


[4] Sousa Cindy, A. Political violence, collective functioning and health: a review of the literature. Med Confl Surviv. 2013 Jul-Sep;29(3):169-97.

[5] Ibid, p6

[6] Ibid, p2

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