Reimagining Global One Health Governance: How the International Mental Health Organization and the International Health Tribunal Bridge Psychosocial and Environmental Frontlines

Abstract

The classical One Health paradigm—centered on the biological interdependence of humans, animals, and the environment—does not adequately address the deepening psychosocial consequences of climate change, ecological collapse, armed conflict, and mass displacement. This commentary presents the International Mental Health Organization (IMHO) and the International Health Tribunal (IHT) as institutions that operationalize a new architecture of global health governance rooted in psychosocial protection. IMHO deploys interdisciplinary crisis response strategies that integrate mental healthcare, community-based resilience programs, and legal-humanitarian diplomacy. Concurrently, IHT establishes a precedent-based framework for prosecuting systemic neglect of psychosocial health under international law. Based on case studies from Colombia, Gaza, Haiti, and Mozambique, I illustrate how traditional health frameworks systematically overlook collective trauma and emotional collapse. I also introduce practical tools—such as cumulative trauma indicators, regional stabilization hubs, and the proposed Convention on Mental Health Protection—to institutionalize psychosocial foresight within the One Health Security doctrine. Ultimately, these institutions reframe mental health not as a derivative concern, but as a foundational element of international security, and call for an intergenerational and intercontinental pact to uphold psychosocial resilience as a universal legal and ethical imperative.