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Restricted health care entitlements for child migrants in Europe and Australia
Liv Stubbe Østergaard1, Marie Norredam1, Claire Mock-Munoz de Luna1
1Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESU), Section for Health Services Research, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Insights
Governments should ensure all migrant children receive equal healthcare, honoring the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Many European and Australian policies restrict access for asylum-seeking and undocumented children.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Human Rights Law
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Over 300,000 asylum-seeking children registered in Europe in 2015.
- Significant numbers of migrant children require access to healthcare services.
- Existing policies vary widely across European nations and Australia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine healthcare entitlements for migrant children in Europe and Australia.
- To assess these entitlements within the framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
- To identify disparities in healthcare access based on legal status.
Main Methods:
- Survey distributed to child health professionals, NGOs, and European Ombudspersons for Children across 30 EU/EEA countries and Australia.
- Supplemented by desktop research of official government documents and policies.
- Categorization of migrant children into asylum seekers and irregular/undocumented migrants.
Main Results:
- Five European countries (France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain) provide equal healthcare to all migrant children regardless of legal status.
- Sweden and Belgium offer equal care to asylum seekers and irregular non-EU migrants, with unclear entitlements for EU migrants.
- Twelve European countries, including Germany, have limited healthcare entitlements for asylum-seeking children, with Australia also restricting access for certain groups.
Conclusions:
- Advocating for governments to uphold UNCRC obligations is crucial for improving healthcare access.
- Explicitly entitling all children to equal healthcare rights can enhance primary and preventive care for vulnerable populations.
- Addressing the healthcare needs of asylum-seeking and undocumented children in the EU and Australia requires policy reform.
Background:
More than 300 000 asylum seeking children were registered in Europe alone during 2015. In this study, we examined entitlements for health care for these and other migrant children in Europe and Australia in a framework based on United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Methods:
Survey to child health professionals, NGO's and European Ombudspersons for Children in 30 EU/EEA countries and Australia, supplemented by desktop research of official documents. Migrant children were categorised as asylum seekers and irregular/undocumented migrants.
Results:
Five countries (France, Italy, Norway, Portugal and Spain) explicitly entitle all migrant children, irrespective of legal status, to receive equal health care to that of its nationals. Sweden and Belgium entitle equal care to asylum seekers and irregular non-EU migrants, while entitlements for EU migrants are unclear. Twelve European countries have limited entitlements to health care for asylum seeking children, including Germany that stands out as the country with the most restrictive health care policy for migrant children. In Australia entitlements for health care are restricted for asylum seeking children in detention and for irregular migrants. The needs of irregular migrants from other EU countries are often overlooked in European health care policy.
Conclusion:
Putting pressure on governments to honour the obligations of the UNCRC and explicitly entitle all children equal rights to health care can be an important way of advocating for better access to primary and preventive care for asylum seeking and undocumented children in Australia and the EU.
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