bereavement

Laura Howard, mum to "cheeky and feisty" Tomos, four, said receiving his diagnosis after he was born felt "very much like a bereavement situation".

It would guarantee new rights for workers from the first day of their employment including: sick pay, protection from unfair dismissal, parental and bereavement leave.

Another often-neglected fallout of war is the burden of bereavement.

In a study published this July, Williams and her colleagues estimated how bereavement burdened — and will continue to burden — 16 populations that have shouldered conflict-related deaths between 1989 and 2023, including in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian territories.

“Regardless of whether we rebuild the bridges or rebuild the buildings, it’s like that bereavement never goes away,” said Williams, who recalls sensing a similar atmosphere of loss during her time in Phnom Penh, where, as she remembers, the trauma of war lurked in collective memory “just barely under the skin.”