averroes

Multicultural Center Prague (MKC)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:56:32 GMT

http://www.mkc.cz/en

European Commission refers Poland to Court of Justice over race equality rules

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:52:28 GMT

The European Commission has referred Poland to the EU Court of Justice for incorrectly implementing EU rules prohibiting discrimination based on race or ethnic origin. In referring Poland to the Court, the Commission pointed out that Poland has not transposed the Directive outside the field of employment. There are no specific provisions in Polish legislation that would prohibit discrimination on grounds of race or ethnic origin with regard namely to social protection and social advantages, including social security and health care, as is requested.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=792&furtherNews=yes

The right to health violated in Mayotte

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:49:06 GMT

The High authority to fight discrimination and promote equality (HALDE) denounces discriminations and important breaches to the right to health in Mayotte. It concludes that claims of discriminations of undocumented migrants and their children, or of unaccompanied children, when accessing health care, are well-founded. It asks the authorities to put 'State medical aid' or an equivalent medical coverage in place in Mayotte and also, considering the obvious violation of provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children (UNCRC), that children of undocumented migrants and unaccompanied children can be directly affiliated to social security.

Source: migrants outre-mer

Call for action on unaccompanied minors

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:48:27 GMT

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.

Sweden to build reception facilities for children returned to Afghanistan

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:46:25 GMT

The Swedish government has announced plans to build specially-designed care centres in Afghanistan where unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Sweden can be returned to. The Swedish Migration Minister insisted that: "The most important thing is to enable the child to be reunited with his parents. If the only basis for a child to stay in Sweden is because they are alone, then it is better that they live in their home country while a search is conducted for their parents". Sweden is not the only country to announce such plans in response to an increase in the number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum. The Danish government has recently made public similar plans while the Netherlands has been funding reception facilities in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo for several years now.

Sources:

- ECRE Weekly Bulletin 26 March 2010

- The Local, 'Sweden plans Afghanistan orphanages'

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

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:43:47 GMT

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

Right of migrants

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:42:39 GMT

Two months after the Central Government criticised two municipalities, Vic and Torrejòn, for trying to prevent irregular migrants from registering themselves with the local authorities, a procedure known as "empadronamiento", the idea of limiting this right is gaining ground.

Sources:

- Presseurop: Spain, the new Arizona

- ABC: El PP propondrá en el Parlament que los municipios denuncien a los «sin papeles»

- El País: Robledo, acusado de negar el padrón a inmigrantes en paro

- ABC: Desestimada en Girona una moción para denunciar a empadronados sin residencia

Vic town council norms to stop undocumented migrants to register withdrawn

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:38:39 GMT

The Municipality of Vic (in Catalonia) had unilaterally made the decision to stop registering undocumented migrants in the local civil registry (padrón). This registration is the condition to get the health card in Catalonia and in most of the Spanish regions. The government and other Spanish institutions have rapidly clarified that a measure as such is contrary to the Spanish Immigration Act and the general rules on registration of the population (empadronamiento). The municipality of Vic has explained that they did not really seek to stop registration but to increase the control on the necessary documents that undocumented migrants must submit in order to be registered and thus to obtain the health card (ID or passport and address). The Vic case has originated an extensive political debate throughout Spain about the local registration of undocumented migrants. In this context, the media has revealed that other municipalities are also developing "bad practices" as regards the local registration of this population.

Source: El País, De la Vega reprocha al alcalde de Vic que tome decisiones unilaterales y fuera de la ley, 12 January 2010.

Municipalities to decide on registration depending on living conditions

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:36:12 GMT

The Spanish newspaper El País reports that the Spanish Government will propose a law allowing municipalities to refuse registration to people who live in houses which exceed a certain proportion of inhabitants per square meter. This follows the controversy which surrounded several Spanish towns' plans to refuse to register undocumented migrants. The government had previously condemned those plans, noting that in practice they will block healthcare for migrants.

Sources:

- El País, 'El Gobierno permitirá denegar el padrón por "inhabitabilidad"', 27 January 2010.

- ECRE, 'ECRE Weekly Bulletin 22 January 2010'

Modifications in the Spanish Aliens Act

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:35:41 GMT

Some modifications occurred in the Spanish Aliens Act in November 2009. Amongst others, this law deems anyone agreeing to house an undocumented migrant (not living at his/her home) in order to allow the latter to be recorded in the local register to have committed a serious offence. This will have significant consequences on undocumented migrants' access to health care, as being registered in the local register (Padrón) is a sine qua non condition for having effective health care access.

Dutch Council for Refugees' appeal to improve reception conditions

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:32:52 GMT

The Dutch Council for Refugees and seven other organizations published an appeal to the new government which will be formed after the elections to improve the reception conditions for asylum seekers and their children. The main requests include that quality of care for asylum seekers should be improved.

Sources:

- Vluchtelingenwerk Nederland, 'Oproep aan nieuwe Kabinet: verbeter opvang asielzoekers!'

- ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 4 June 2010

Individual assessment is necessary before returning separated children

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:31:49 GMT

In a recent position paper, ECPAT-NL and UNICEF-NL condemn the systematic return of separated children who don't qualify for asylum to reception houses in the country of origin. This policy is led by the Netherlands and followed by other Member States such as Norway, Denmark, the UK and Sweden. However, ECPAT-NL and UNICEF-NL underline the necessity of proving on the basis of an individual assessment whether or not the child's well-being can be guaranteed if s/he is sent back: "it is necessary to make an individual assessment to decide whether a durable solution is to return to the country of origin or integration in the country of residence."

Reaction of the Minister to MDM Netherlands publication

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:29:46 GMT

On 27 January, the minister reacted to the publication "Niet vergeten!", handed over to him in December by MDM Netherlands, and in which he admits that information provided by support organisations will be taken into account when monitoring the access to healthcare of undocumented migrants. The full-text is available here.

MPs meeting with the Prime minister on access for undocumented migrants

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:28:08 GMT

On 28 January, the Commission of health care of the second Chamber had a general meeting with the minister. MPs asked questions about access for undocumented migrants, on dental care, and on the way of monitoring by CVZs (which are in charge of carrying out the financial regulation of 2009). The minister rejected concerns that removing dental care from the list of "necessary care" that can be reimbursed would lead to serious dental health problems. The Minister also promised that more attention would be paid to ensure that hospital staff is aware of the obligation to provide necessary care. The full-text is available here

Access to health care for undocumented migrants: report updated

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:25:54 GMT

NIVEL (for Nederlands instituut voor onderzoek van de gezondheidszorg, or 'Netherlands Institute for Health Care Research') has published an update of its ongoing research on access to health care for undocumented migrants in the Netherlands. NIVEL asked health care providers what changes they anticipated as a result of the new rules for the financing of assistance to undocumented migrants, which came into effect in January 2009. While most care providers appeared to have become more willing to assist the undocumented, general practitioners received a disproportionate number of undocumented patients. The full report, titled "Toegankelijkheid van gezondheidszorg voor 'illegalen' in Nederland: een update", is available here.

Source: Picum newsletter, November 2009.

Amnesty anual report on human rights in Italy

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:22:40 GMT

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.

Opinion polls on health care for undocumented migrants

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:19:47 GMT

A national survey conducted by Censis, an Italian research centre for social investments, has shown that more than 80% of Italian citizens are in favour of access to health care for undocumented migrants.

Source: PICUM newsletter, April 2010, and Adnkronos.

End to child detention

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:15:55 GMT

Britain's new Immigration Minister announced that children would no longer be detained. The United Kingdom has often been criticised for keeping more than 1,000 children a year in detention centres. 'Refugee and Migrant Justice' applauds the new government for "recognising the inhumanity of this practice which treats children like criminals when they have done no crime and can leave scars for life. We hope that this will be implemented immediately and that whatever measures are brought in to replace detention will put the welfare and safety of these children first."

Sources:

- Refugee and Migrant Justice, 'Government pledge to end detention of children welcomed by Refugee and Migrant Justice'

- ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 21 may 2010

Children's Commissioner condemns treatment of detained children

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:15:04 GMT

Detaining children in an immigration detention centre is "extremely distressing and harmful", according to a highly critical report on the conditions in the Yarl's Wood Immigration centre published by the Children's Commissioner for England. The report highlights a number of problems in the Yarl's Wood centre where more than 1,000 children are held every year. These include a failure to assess "even at an elementary level" the general psychological wellbeing of a child on arrival and a failure to recognise psychological harm when faced with dramatic changes in a child's behaviour. The UK Border Agency dismissed the report as "misguided and wrong" and insisted that they take the detention of families "very seriously" and use it only as a last resort. In response to the findings, Donna Covey, Chief Executive of the UK Refugee Council, said that: "These are children we are talking about. It is unacceptable that they are detained at all. Even if all the Commissioner's recommendations about procedure were followed to the letter, there is no escaping the harm that is caused by locking children up."

Source: ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 19 February 2010

Conditions at immigration removal centre "wholly unacceptable"

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:12:14 GMT

Conditions at a privately run immigration removal centre have deteriorated so much that they are now "wholly unacceptable" for women and children, the chief inspector of prisons says today. The results of the unannounced inspection in October published on 18 December show that the centre has developed a "more prison-like culture" in the past 18 months and previous fears about the plight of a small number of children and women at this largely male establishment have grown.

Source: The Guardian, 18 December.