The Salud por Derecho Foundation has presented the report ‘Migration policy in the EU as a global health crisis’ in which it has denounced the impact of European migration policies on the health of migrants, which are generating “a health crisis that affects millions of migrants”.
Thus, Salud por Derecho has indicated that during the first six months of 2024 more than 120 million people around the world were forced to leave their homes due to armed conflicts, human rights violations, humanitarian crises and the effects of climate change. . Despite these figures, the Foundation considers that the European Union “continues to tighten its migration and border control policies.”
The thread indicates that, since 2014, more than half of the deaths recorded in migratory processes have occurred in Europe or on routes to the continent, both sea and land. “In the Mediterranean alone, 30,356 migrants have died or disappeared in the last decade,” he highlights, while he assures that in the Sahara Desert it is estimated that this number could be double.
The report reveals how these measures focused on deterrence, detention and border shielding are triggering “a public health crisis that affects millions of migrants.” The document emphasizes that “these policies are pushing them to take more dangerous paths, which increases the risks to their health.”
This situation, he warns, is not an inevitable consequence of the immigration process, but a political decision. At this point, it stands out that the EU, which already has 15 percent of its borders with walls, has increased funding for migration control by 94 percent for the period 2021-2027.
BETWEEN WALLS AND DETENTIONS
The report also highlights the “serious health risks” faced by migrants who are exposed during the journey to extreme conditions, such as stifling heat, intense cold and dehydration, in addition to suffering physical violence at borders and detentions.
“The lack of access to medical care and the interruption of treatments further aggravates their condition, also affecting their mental health,” they point out in the report. This situation is claimed to have caused an increase in cases of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder among those who have migrated.
According to the report, each year more than 100,000 people are detained in Europe due to their administrative status, and in Spain, 70 percent of people detained in detention centers develop serious mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, and two of every ten tries to self-harm. This detention, they point out, also impacts children with consequences that can last the rest of their lives.
Thus, they highlight that studies show that a child exposed to extreme stress, such as that suffered in detention, is more likely to develop lung cancer, more at risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases and can lose up to twenty years of life expectancy.
Another aspect that they consider worrying is the “inaction and structural violence” at the borders, where “hot returns have become a common practice.” These returns ensure that they are carried out “without due legal process, they not only violate human rights, they also cause serious physical injuries and psychological trauma.”
Since 2017, more than 25,000 cases of violence have been recorded at European borders during returns, which “demonstrates the increased risks and abandonment faced by these people.”
Furthermore, Salud por Derecho denounces the externalization of immigration control and its serious impact on health. At this point, they indicate that the EU has invested millions of euros in financing countries like Tunisia, Libya or Morocco to detain migrants before they reach Europe. The document highlights the case of Libya, whose coast guard has intercepted and returned 120,000 people through these practices since 2017. All in a country where more than 70 percent of migrants do not receive medical assistance.
KEYS TO MIGRATE WITH RIGHTS
The report concludes with a series of recommendations urging the EU to rethink its migration policy so that it integrates global health and human rights. It calls for an end to the detention of migrants, since “even the shortest periods can cause anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that last for years.”
Likewise, it calls for ending agreements with third countries that encourage these violent practices and creating an exclusive European mechanism for maritime rescues, guaranteeing safe ports.
At the national level, it asks Spain to implement European laws with full guarantees. To this end, it calls for “avoiding the detention of migrants, since it is incompatible with the right to health; establishing a health monitoring system at the borders, and giving priority to health care in the design of immigration policies.”