Abstract
This article argues for an urban citizenship perspective which explores the struggle for rights and the everyday practices of illegalized migrants. Analyzing the concept of Anonymized Health Certificates as a result of such a struggle allows for examination of urban citizenship in this context. The implementation of the Anonymized Health Certificates program would facilitate access to medical care for people who live in the city of Berlin but are excluded from this right due to their lack of residency status. However, such a perspective also makes it possible to examine the limitation of the Anonymized Health Certificates, which would allow illegalized migrants in Berlin to circumvent access barriers, while at the same time the exclusion mechanisms of these barriers would remain uncontested at the national level. Whilst Anonymize Health Certificates will greatly improve access to medical care, illegalized migrants have by no means been passive subjects and have been actively rejecting their exclusion from health care: Practices include sharing health insurance cards with friends, visiting doctors who help for free as a form of solidarity, and sharing information about these doctors within their social networks. Even if they do not contest the social order visibly, they refuse to passively accept their social exclusion. Illegalized migrants perform such practices of urban citizenship in their everyday life as they actively take ownership of their rights to participate in urban life, even whilst being formally denied these rights.
Highlights
Up until summer 2019, undocumented migrants in Germany were de facto excluded from accessing medical care
In summer 2019, the first Anonymous Health Certificates were issued to illegalized migrants in Berlin
It helps migrants to gain the most access possible through personal consultations and connecting them with solidarity medical institutions, and uses these experiences to fight for political solutions
Summary
Up until summer 2019, undocumented migrants in Germany were de facto excluded from accessing medical care. Through the implementation of Anonymized Health Certificates, the access to medical care for people who have no formal access due to their lack of official residency is fundamentally simplified. The Medibüro is a grassroots initiative which has been fighting for equal access to medical care for all, for more than 20 years now. The Medibüro is a grassroots initiative which has been fighting for equal access to medical care for all, for more than 20 years We will analyze their struggles and campaigns as solidarity forms of urban citizenship which led to the implementation of the Anonymized Health Certificate by the current government of Berlin. Even before the Anonymized Health Certificate was implemented, illegalized migrants developed strategies to get access to medical care and to participate in social life. We look at the strategies with which illegalized migrants find ways to resist their exclusion and disenfranchisement
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