Revision of the Spanish foreign citizen status bill and withdrawal of the obligation to denounce in Italy

Press release - Medicos del Mundo happily greets the will to revise the reform’s project of the law regarding the foreign citizen status specifically regarding the legal punishment of individuals and associations helping undocumented migrants in detention centers. At the same time we are witnessing the withdrawal of Berlusconi’s government proposal that argued that medical employees could denounce undocumented migrants to the police. The pressure of Civil Society, NGOs and professionals in Italy, Spain and throughout Europe was decisive for the revision of those initiatives.

 

Despite those rejoicing news, Médicos del Mundo stresses the tendency in Europe to deal with immigration in restrictive terms. Regarding health services, there is a lot to be done to guaranty that total access to health as a human right regardless of his origin or administrative situation.

Not only do these individuals face serious obstacles making it hard for them to enjoy their fundamental rights (administrative barriers, linguistic and cultural barriers, fear, lack of information, rejection…) but in addition, in many European countries, legislation deny health care to undocumented migrants even emergency care (Sweden et Austria) or childbirth (Sweden, Austria, Germany, United-Kingdom and Greece). In other countries, as for instance Germany, public institutions have to denounce undocumented migrant that come to public assistance centers delivering health care.

 

Europe

Indeed we should not forget the living condition of the individuals in detention centers all over Europe, within which hygiene and access to health care are poor.

Médicos del Mundo defends the strict separation of health and migratory policies. We cannot, under any circumstances, tolerate denunciation. The confidentiality must be protected to guaranty the trust between patients and medical professionals so that employees are not frighten and thus able to give the appropriate attention to the vulnerable and resourceless individuals.

 

This is why, Médicos del Mundo asks:

• Effective health care access and equal conditions to all inhabitants of the European Union, including individuals living in detention centers regardless of their administrative status.
• Health and health care access must be independent of migratory policies (immigration) and should never be used as an instrument supporting migratory controls.
• Confidentiality between patients and professionals must be guaranteed in order to create a trust relation that enables health care access when recognized;