A new study by the UN Human Rights Office connects youth mental health to much more than access to healthcare. It looks at the role of discrimination, safety, education, housing, social exclusion and participation, with LGBTQI young people explicitly addressed across several of its findings. IGLYO contributed evidence and recommendations to the process, drawing on our research and the experiences shared through our network.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has published a new study on the Impact of mental health challenges on the enjoyment of human rights by young people, prepared for the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council.
The study draws on 277 submissions from States, human rights institutions, UN bodies and civil society, including young people. Alongside it, OHCHR published a summary bringing together the views of approximately 4,000 young people from across the world.
Earlier this year, IGLYO contributed to this process with a submission focused specifically on LGBTQI young people. Drawing primarily on our 2026 research LGBTQI Youth Mental Health in the Spotlight, alongside international evidence and experiences shared through our network, we highlighted how mental health is affected by discrimination, violence, unsafe school and family environments, poverty, housing insecurity and barriers to appropriate healthcare.
One young person consulted for the UN study described the problem simply: “When I struggled, the problem was seen as me. Not the system.”
What does the study say about LGBTQI young people?
The study explicitly links the mental health of LGBTQI young people to the legal, social and institutional environments in which they live.
OHCHR finds that discriminatory laws and practices, limited social acceptance and rejection can undermine young people’s dignity, identity and sense of belonging. Laws criminalising same-sex relations, restricting gender expression or identity, or limiting freedoms of expression, information, assembly and association can expose LGBTQI young people to stigma, bullying, violence and family rejection. They can also intensify fear, isolation and distress, discourage young people from seeking support or reporting abuse, and deepen exclusion from education, healthcare, services and public life.
Housing is part of that picture. OHCHR recognises that LGBTQI young people face disproportionate levels of homelessness and that the effects on mental health can be serious and compounding. Without safe and stable housing, other parts of a young person’s life, including education, healthcare, employment and social connection, can become much harder to maintain.
The study also raises concerns about what happens when young people do seek help. OHCHR notes that LGBTQI and other marginalised young people may experience some mental health services as socially or culturally unsafe, insensitive or punitive. It also states that practices aimed at suppressing a young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity continue in some contexts and may amount to torture.
The views gathered directly from young people reinforce these findings. LGBTQI youth are identified among groups facing multiple and intersecting challenges, while bullying, including online harassment, is singled out as a persistent stressor particularly affecting LGBTQI and minority youth. Young people described mental health as being shaped by wider structural conditions including unsafe education, poverty, housing insecurity, violence, discrimination and lack of social support.
Mental health policy has to look beyond healthcare
One of the clearest conclusions of the study is that improving youth mental health cannot be achieved through health services alone.
OHCHR calls for action on the conditions that shape young people’s lives before harm occurs: reducing poverty and inequality, preventing violence and discrimination, creating safe and inclusive education, community and digital spaces, strengthening housing and social protection, improving access to decent work and enabling meaningful youth participation.
That wider approach also runs through the recommendations to States. The study calls for accessible and non-discriminatory services, confidential and youth-friendly pathways to support, investment in community-based care, trained professionals, sustained financing, better data and stronger involvement of young people in the decisions that affect them.
These priorities strongly connect with the issues IGLYO brought to the consultation.
Our submission called for a human rights-based approach to youth mental health; safer and more inclusive schools and stronger action against bullying and cyberbullying; accessible, affordable and affirming mental health services with confidentiality safeguards; an end to conversion practices; sustainable investment in community-based and youth-led support; better disaggregated data; and meaningful participation of LGBTQI young people in mental health policy.
At the centre of our submission was the same underlying concern that the mental health challenges experienced by LGBTQI young people are not isolated from the rest of their lives. Bullying at school can affect whether someone stays in education. Family rejection can lead to housing insecurity or homelessness. Discrimination in healthcare can make someone less willing to seek help. Hostile laws and public discourse can restrict participation and make young people feel unsafe simply being visible.
Treating each of these as a separate problem misses how they interact.
The new UN study adds international weight to something LGBTQI youth organisations have long argued, which is that improving mental health also means changing the conditions that contribute to distress and exclusion in the first place.
For governments, that means mental health policy cannot end at the door of a counselling service. It also has to reach schools, homes, housing systems, digital spaces, social protection, healthcare and the laws and institutions that are integral to young people’s everyday lives.
The next question is implementation. The value of these recommendations will ultimately be measured by whether they lead to changes LGBTQI young people can actually experience such as feeling safer, accessing support without discrimination, remaining in education, having somewhere secure to live and being able to participate fully in their communities.
About IGLYO
IGLYO — The International LGBTQI Youth and Student Organisation — is the world’s largest network dedicated to LGBTQI young people and their rights. We represent more than 150 LGBTQI youth and student-led organisations across more than 40 countries in the European region. IGLYO works to advance the rights of LGBTQI young people, advocate for equality and inclusion, empower youth voices, and connect LGBTQI youth across borders through advocacy, research, capacity-building, regranting, training, network-building and community work.
For further information, please reach out to:
Rú Ávila Rodríguez, PhD (they/them), Deputy Executive Director, ru@iglyo.org
Ahmed El-Salawy (he/him), Policy & Research Officer, ahmed@iglyo.org