ABSTRACT
Studies of stressful and traumatic life events and experience with anyone who faces a move from secure residence – whether by choice or by force – reveal how migration can threaten physical and mental health, economic security, and our basic human right to shelter and safety from natural events or violent threats to survival. In the case of torture during political strife, and the systematic trafficking of women and adolescents in the sex trade, deprivation of basic needs and fears for survival greatly magnify the stress of ordinary moves from one residence or geographic region to another.
