Access to Health Services for Irregular Migrants Living in Europe from the Perspective of the Right to Health

Abstract

Migrants face many legal, social, cultural and economic problems during and after the migration process. Irregular migrants, a subgroup of immigrants, who are part of the “immigrant crisis” in the official discourse of the European countries, face these problems much more intensively. Persons entering and working in their countries without legal permission are stigmatized as illegal or irregular. In this sense, irregular migrants are one of the groups most adversely affected by the migration policies of European countries. The aim of this study is to reveal the barriers that irregular migrants face in accessing health services in European countries. A literature search used a descriptive analysis to create themes and sub-categories. Access to health care for irregular migrants in European countries is no longer considered a basic human right as a result of the crisis of the welfare state.Our findings reveal that, due to the structural and individual barriers to access to health services, irregular migrants constitute the most disadvantaged group in accessing health services compared to the other groups of migrants. Furthermore, viewing irregular migrants as a national security issue has impeded creating policies that provide access to health care to this population. It is concluded that the access to health services for irregular migrants living in Europe needs to be revised from the perspective of the right to health.