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Migration and the Human Right to Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

PHILLIP COLE
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Extract

In December 2007 it was revealed that the British government is considering the exclusion of certain groups of migrants—those considered to be present “illegally”—from primary health care provided by the National Health Service (NHS). At present, practitioners have discretion to accept any individual for NHS treatment regardless of their status. A joint Home Office and Department of Health review is examining this access for foreign nationals, and the likely outcome is the restriction of access to irregular migrants, which would, according to the Institute of Public Policy Research, affect around 390,000 people. In 2004 such groups were excluded from NHS secondary care, most controversially from treatment for HIV, and so the present proposal would bar them from all but emergency health treatment.

Type
Health and Human Rights
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 70 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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References

1. Failed asylum seekers in Wales and Scotland do not fall under this exclusion, and the situation in England is unclear at the time of writing, after a High Court ruling that regulations banning failed asylum seekers from free NHS treatment were unlawful. The government is in the process of appealing against the ruling. All other irregular/undocumented migrants are excluded throughout the United Kingdom.

2. BBC News. “Health tourism” rules unveiled; 2003 Dec 30. Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3355751.stm (retrieved 2008 Jul 10).

3. Cole P. Human rights and the national interest: Migrants, health care and social justice. Journal of Medical Ethics 2007;33(5):269–72.

4. Select Committee on Health. Third Report; 2005:paragraph 94. Available from www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/252/25202.htm (retrieved 2008 Jul 10).

5. See note 4, Select Committee on Health, 2005:paragraph 95.

6. See note 4, Select Committee on Health, 2005:paragraphs 96–7.

7. See note 4, Select Committee on Health, 2005:paragraph 111.

8. See note 4, Select Committee on Health, 2005:paragraph 128.

9. See note 4, Select Committee on Health, 2005:paragraph 139.

10. See note 4, Select Committee on Health, 2005:paragraph 151.

11. See note 4, Select Committee on Health, 2005:paragraph 177.

12. National Aids Trust. New developments in HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health Policy: Memorandum to the Health Committee: paragraph 7.2. Available from http://www.nat.org.uk/document/74 (retrieved 2008 Jul 10).

13. See note 12, National Aids Trust:paragraph 7.1.

14. United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Available from www.un.org/Overview/rights.html (retrieved 2008 Jul 10).

15. For the full version of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, see www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm (retrieved 2008 Jul 10). For other international codes in this area see International Organization for Migration. World Migration 2005: Costs and Benefits of International Migration, Vol 3—IOM Migration Report Series; 2005:330.

16. United Nations. Human Rights of Migrants. United Nations document A/57/292: p. 7. Available from www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/ee8cd3573f96c740c1256c4d0038539a/$FILE/N0251832.pdf (retrieved 2008 Jul 14).

17. United Nations. Human Rights of Migrants. www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.RES.2000.48.En?Opendocument (retrieved 2008 Jul 10).

18. I am interpreting “justiciability” here to mean that “only a court of law . . . is competent to review complaints about violations of a right and to give redress.” Toebes BCA. The Right to Health as a Human Right in International Law. Antwerp: Intersentia-Hart; 1999:168. Toebes in fact thinks this is too narrow an interpretation.

19. Friesen T. The right to health care. Health Law Journal 2001;9:205–22 at p. 205.

20. See note 19, Friesen 2001:206.

21. See note 19, Friesen 2001:213.

22. See note 19, Friesen 2001:213.

23. See note 19, Friesen 2001:218.

24. See note 19, Friesen 2001:218.

25. See note 19, Friesen 2001:219.

26. See note 19, Friesen 2001:220.

27. Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants. Access to Health Care for Undocumented Migrants in Europe. Brussels, Belgium: PICUM; 2007:97.

28. See note 27. Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants 2007:104.

29. See Cole P. La valla estadounidense. La teoria politica liberal y la inmoralidad de la per-tenencia. Revista Internacional de Filosofía Política 2006;27:101–15.

30. See note 19, Friesen 2001:221–2.