Newsletter Octobre 2009 - Numéro 8 (en anglais)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Proposal for amending the ‘Qualification directive’

On Wednesday 21 October 2009, the European Commission presented a proposal for amending the Qualification Directive, on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection. The recast proposal aims namely to eliminate the differences in the level of rights granted to refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection such as rights concerning the duration of residence permits, access to social welfare and health care, giving all beneficiaries of international protection access to heath care under the same conditions as nationals. The recast proposal will now have to be negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council in the co-decision procedure. The full text is available on the website of the European Union.

 

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EU action to reduce health inequalities

On 20 October 2009, the European Commission published its Communication on "Solidarity in Health: reducing health inequalities in the EU".

One of the main key issues the Commission identified is to meet the needs of vulnerable groups. While undocumented migrants are not specifically targeted as such, EU level actions to meet the needs of vulnerable groups are:

- Launch initiatives in collaboration with Member States to raise awareness and promote actions to improve access and appropriateness of health services, health promotion and preventive care for migrants and ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups, through the identification and exchange of good practice supported by the health and other programmes.

- A Report on the use of Community instruments and policies for Roma inclusion including a section on health inequalities will be prepared for the 2010 Roma summit.

- Carry out activities on health inequalities as part of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion 2010.

Source: Solidarity in health: reducing health inequalities in the EU

 

 

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

 

BULGARIA

Asylum seeker dies in Bulgarian detention centre

On Monday 19 October 2009, news reports came out on the death of an asylum seeker in a Bulgarian detention centre. On 6 October 2009, Hasun Albaadzh, a rejected asylum seeker awaiting expulsion, died after 34 months of detention at the Busmantsi detention centre in Sofia.

Bulgarian human rights groups are demanding an investigation after allegations that Mr. Albaadzh was denied medical assistance despite repeated requests. Iliana Savova, director of the refugee and migrant programme at the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, explained further “alongside protracted periods of detention, malnutrition and lack of psychological support, one of the most recurrent problems reported by detainees is extremely poor levels of medical care, lack of medicines and treatment".

Sources:
- IPS news, 'Bulgaria: Migrants Denied Even Medicine'
- ECRE weekly bulletin, 23 October 2009

 

PUBLICATIONS

UNDP

“Overcoming barriers: human mobility and development”: UNDP issued its 2009 Human development report 2009, with dedicated chapters on “Who moves were, when and why” and “impacts at origin and destination”. The findings in this Report cast new light on some common misconceptions. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, migrants typically boost economic output and give more than they take. Detailed investigations show that immigration generally increases employment in host communities, does not crowd out locals from the job market and improves rates of investment in new businesses and initiatives. Overall, the impact of migrants on public finances—both national and local—is relatively small, while there is ample evidence of gains in other areas such as social diversity and the capacity for innovation.

 

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MIGREUROP

MIGREUROP issued an ‘Atlas of migrants flows’ : since the mid-eighties, EU Member States have been reinforcing migration controls at their borders but also and increasingly in transit countries and countries of origin, making migration roads ever more dangerous to travel. This critical atlas greatly helps to understand these migration policies, their evolution and consequences. Further details on the website of Migreurop.

EVENTS

MdM Netherlands Conference-debate

On 15 October 2009, MDM Netherlands organized a conference-debate on barriers in the access to healthcare for undocumented migrants: ‘Duty to give healthcare under pressure!’

Presentations were made on migrations at world and European level, on the legal perspective of duty to give healthcare and on the results of the European Observatory on access to health care. The debate was based on two cases which were presented by migrants themselves and on leading questions. Conclusions have been formulated around the need for healthcare professionals as well as patients about the recent financial regulations and the right they have to health care. Besides, care providers have been addressed to use more actively their responsibility to observe and also report if any barriers stand in the way for undocumented to receive the medically necessary healthcare they are entitled to.

 

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Conference on the Identification of Vulnerable Asylum Seekers

On Thursday 19 November 2009 the Odysseus Academic Network will hold a Conference on the Identification of Vulnerable Asylum Seekers in the Framework of the Reception Conditions Directive in Brussels. This conference aims at analysing the problem of the identification of “asylum seekers with special needs” like disabled or elderly people, victims of torture, violence or rape, persons with mental health problems, pregnant women, … The Odysseus Academic Network underlined in a study done in 2007 that two thirds of the Member States have no procedure to identify asylum seekers with special needs despite article 17 of the previous directive, this obviously depriving those persons of the special reception conditions that they should normally benefit from and leave their special needs unsatisfied.

Further information is available on the website of the Odysseus network.