Healthcare Services for Asylum-Seekers: Untangling the European Social Charter

TL;DR

This article examines how the European Social Charter applies to healthcare access for asylum-seekers, revealing that legal definitions and migrant statuses can limit their rights.

Contribution

The paper provides a legal analysis of how the European Social Charter's health rights apply to asylum-seekers under varying national and EU conditions.

Findings

The European Social Charter may apply to asylum-seekers to varying degrees depending on factors like residence status and asylum grounds.

National and EU migrant statuses often conflict with the Charter's framework, potentially hindering healthcare access for asylum-seekers.

The article suggests ways to expand the Charter's scope to better protect health rights for asylum-seekers.

Abstract

Asylum-seekers, like any population, need healthcare services, yet national laws sometimes restrict access to such services. The European Social Charter (revised) protects the right to health and medical services. However, the Charter has a complex application, and its scope is limited concerning foreigners. This article analyses to what extent the provisions of the Charter on the right to health and medical assistance apply to adult asylum-seekers. It shows that the Charter may apply to various degrees to asylum-seekers depending on several circumstances, such as the national definition of residence or regular work, grounds for seeking asylum, citizenship or lack thereof. Depending on these factors, some asylum-seekers may receive full healthcare services, whereas others may have only limited rights. The article shows that the migrant statuses created by national and EU law do not fit in the system of statuses in the Charter, which might produce legal hindrances to accessing health-related rights for asylum-seekers. The article also discusses the possible ways for the European Committee of Social Rights to further expand the scope of the Charter’s application.