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ECPA Position Statement Against Ongoing Genocides and Mass Atrocities
The European Community Psychology Association (ECPA) unequivocally condemns all forms of genocide, mass violence, and systematic oppression currently unfolding across the world, including in Afghanistan, China, Darfur and Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Palestine, Syria, and Ukraine (Genocide Watch, 20241). We affirm the inherent dignity and equal worth of all people and assert the fundamental right of every individual and community to live freely, safely, and in peace. Freedom for all people to live in peace is not an abstract aspiration but an essential and non-negotiable condition for human wellbeing, collective survival, and social justice.
As a community of community-engaged psychology scholars, practitioners and activists, we state clearly that it is not enough to position ourselves merely against war, violence, and oppression. We must actively side with peace and justice. There is no pathway to peace through any form of war, violence, occupation, domination, or structural oppression. Such practices destroy lives, fracture communities, and perpetuate cycles of trauma and dehumanisation that extend across generations. Peace cannot be built on injustice, and security cannot be achieved through the denial of rights.
Community Psychology is grounded in the core values of social justice, solidarity, and peace. These values compel us to stand with communities subjected to displacement, collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and genocidal violence. Social justice demands that we challenge unequal power relations and structural conditions that enable oppression. Solidarity requires that we align ourselves with affected peoples, amplifying their voices calling for peace, justice and liberation rather than speaking over them. Peace, as we understand it, is not merely the absence of armed conflict, but the presence of equity, dignity, participation, and collective care.
ECPA recognises that we are not neutral observers. We are involved and concerned precisely because what is political is psychological, and what is psychological is political. There is no political oppression without psychological oppression, and no psychological harm that is detached from political and social conditions. Genocide and mass violence are not only violations of international law; they are profound assaults on mental health, identity, community cohesion, and the possibility of future healing. Trauma, fear, grief, and dehumanisation are systematically produced through political decisions, military strategies, and institutionalised racism.
As community psychologists, we therefore reject false notions of neutrality that mask complicity. We call for an immediate end to all genocidal practices, military aggression, structural and colonial violence, and for the protection of civilian lives without exception. We urge governments, international institutions, academic bodies, and professional associations to uphold international law, support ceasefires, ensure humanitarian access, and invest in peacebuilding, liberation, and self-determination processes led by grassroots communities and committed to justice and accountability.
The European Community Psychology Association reaffirms its commitment to working alongside communities, scholars, practitioners, and activists worldwide to resist oppression, support collective healing, and contribute to a future where all people can live freely and peacefully. Our ethical responsibility is clear: to stand for life, dignity, and peace—without conditions, without hierarchies, and without compromise.
1 Genocide Watch. (2024). Genocide Watch Recommendations 2024. Genocide Emergencies and Warnings.
As Authoritarianism Grows, Psychologists Must Not Be Silent
In solidarity with our US-based colleagues Rehman Adbulrehman, Elliot Benjamin, Alaina Brenick, Sara Buckingham, Sarah Constantine, Donna Demanarig, Judy Iwens Eidelson, Judith Gulko, Ian Hansen, Monica Indart, Emily Lutringer, Sodah Minty, Tiffany O’Shaughnessy, Michele Ribeiro, Stephen Soldz, Karen Suyemoto, and several others who prefer to remain anonymous, we share a statement published on December 12, 2025 on Counterpunch. The statement offers an important overview of the recent developments in authoritarianism, "its psychological underpinnings, its current manifestations, and the urgent need to confront the harm that has already been done and to curtail the suffering that still lies ahead". |
