NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

 

FRANCE

 

Call for action on unaccompanied minors

A report from French Senator Isabelle Debré (UMP) to the Prime Minister highlights the urgency and necessity of more action towards foreign unaccompanied minors in France. The report calls for a more coherent response in the areas of protection, social services and regularisation of unaccompanied minors. Welcoming the report and recalling the EU Commission’s action plan on unaccompanied minors recently published, NGO FTDA calls for more action from the French government, but also for a European response to the issue.

Sources:

- France Terre d’Asile, ‘Call for a European protection of unaccompanied children’

- ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 4 June 2010.

 

 

 

GREECE

 

Detention of migrants

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) published a report about the impact of the current detention system on the mental health and wellbeing of migrants and asylum seekers arriving in Greece. The report presents data from psychological counselling sessions as well as individual testimonies. It shows that detention can exacerbate existing problems and contribute to new traumas and psychological distress.

Source: MSF, ‘Greece, Migrants in detention, lives on hold’

 

 

 

ITALY

 

Amnesty Italia has published its annual report on the situation of the human rights in Italy and a chapter focuses on migration and asylum. Amnesty particularly condemns the harshening of the Italian legislation on irregular migration which criminalizes undocumented migrants. While it is still possible for irregular migrants to receive health care and enrol their children at school without the need of showing a residence permit, Amnesty believes that after the approval of the Italian security package in July 2009, migrants have been dissuaded to report to the police on suffered maltreatments and abuses fearing of being arrested and deported.

Source: PICUM Newsletter June 2010

More information (in Italian) at: http://www.amnesty.it/Rapporto-Annuale-2010/aggiornamento-diritti-umani-Italia#00ce25.

 

 

 

SPAIN

Spain considers charging for health care to help plug its financial deficit

The Spanish government is considering introducing a fee per visit for publicly funded healthcare services in a bid to help plug the hole in its finances. Health authorities in various autonomous regions like Catalonia, Valencia, Madrid, or Asturias, have backed this approach in the past few weeks, despite widespread opposition.

The campaign group, the Madrid Network Against Privatisation of Public Health Care (CAS Madrid), states that the treasury is studying the feasibility of implementing a fee per visit system. The various options under consideration, it says, include charging 2 to 3 euros to see the family doctor or the pediatrician, and a financial penalty for anyone requesting emergency services for non-urgent care, in the view of the attending doctor. Other options include requiring pensioners to pay a proportion of the overall cost of drugs around 10% for those with long term conditions, or on a sliding scale, depending on income—and simply not providing certain expensive services for free, forcing patients to either pay for them privately or to take out insurance cover. "There is evidence that a fee per visit reduces both necessary as well as unnecessary visits, and it is indiscriminate: the repercussions are worse for those who have lower incomes and for marginalised groups," commented the spokesperson for Dempeus per la Salut Pública (Standing Up for Public Health Care).

Source:BMJ 2010;340:c3063