Social Structures
Symposium
Author: Élise Fabre, Legal Assistant, Law Firm specialised in Asylum Law, Paris (France)
The protection of human rights in migration and displacement is a major global challenge for policy makers, as 27 people perished trying to cross the Channel a week ago and others are suffering from deplorable living conditions at the beginning of winter on the doorstep of Poland.
According to the United Nations, migration refers to both voluntary and involuntary movement of people across borders, or within a country. While people move to search for a better life, some specifically fear persecutions and are forced to undertake a long journey to find peace and safe living conditions.
During their journey and in their host countries, migrants and refugees face great barriers in accessing their human rights, especially their social rights, such as the right to an adequate standard of living, including housing, food, and the right to the highest attainable standard of both physical and mental health. In its 2020 annual conclusions, the European Committee of Social Rights expressed concerns over the lack of access to social rights of migrant families and children in Europe. The Committee showed particular concerns about the treatment of children in an irregular migration situation and asylum-seeking children, as they encounter many obstacles in accessing safe and appropriate accommodation. The exposure to trauma, the separation or loss of family members and the lack of access to social rights lead to the prevalence of psychosocial conditions among refugee and asylum-seeking children. They are, hence, subjected to abuse, human trafficking and face great violations of their human rights.
Situations of migration or displacement generally increase individuals’ vulnerability. In particular, marginalised migrants and refugees, such as persons with disabilities, are vulnerable to violence caused by migration and displacement and by national migration-related policies in host countries. According to Forced Migration Review, up to 10% of all displaced people have a disability. Focusing on asylum seekers and refugees with disabilities, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs underlined the complicated relation between disability and forced displacement:
On one hand, disability may be a consequence of forced displacement; on the other hand, refugees with disabilities are more likely to be sidelined in every aspect of humanitarian assistance due to physical, environmental and societal barriers against accessing information, health and rehabilitation services and human rights protection.
Thus, migrants and refugees face ever greater barriers in accessing their human rights.
The 2019 United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty highlighted the “prevalence of persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, in populations displaced following conflicts and humanitarian emergencies.” Displacement, armed conflicts, humanitarian and environmental emergencies force migrants and refugees to use temporary non-physically accessible facilities such as temporary accommodation centres. Displacement also put migrants and refugees with disabilities more at risk of being subjected to violence, abuse and discrimination. In 2017, Catalina Devandas Aguilar, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said that:
We are deeply concerned about the precarious situation of persons with disabilities in the current migration crisis. Many countries lack formal procedures to identify migrants and refugees with disabilities and, consequently, fail to provide them with protection and essential services, such as shelter and medical care that are accessible and responsive to their needs.
In their 2017 joint statement, the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrants Workers and Members of their Families and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability expressed their concerns about the lack of accessible services related to health and housing for migrants and refugees with disabilities. They underlined the general lack of accessibility in receptions conditions, preventing migrants and refugees with disabilities from accessing their right to an adequate standard of living. Both Committees called on Member States to implement their legal obligations related to the respect of human rights of persons with disabilities in migration and displacement, as specified in the Conventions. As a response, the 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration provided specific guidelines for Member States to ensure the human rights of migrants and refugees with disabilities are met, and to protect them from violence, abuse and discrimination on the basis of their disabilities. The agreement provided recommendations to address the particular needs of vulnerable migrants and refugees, emphasising on a human rights-based, disability-responsive approach.
In her book, The girl from Aleppo, Nujeen Mustafa, a Syrian refugee, explained how she made the 5,600-kilometre journey from Syria to Germany in a wheelchair. As she was forced to flee her home because of the war, she crossed the Mediterranean Sea and joined Germany accompanied by her sister. In 2019, she became the first woman with a disability to address the Security Council on the humanitarian situation of people with disability during the Syrian conflict. She underscored the importance of data collecting and of including people with disabilities in policy-making discussions.
What’s more, other aspects of migration and displacement led to further discrimination of people with disabilities. Many countries detain asylum seekers and irregular migrants whilst their applications are processed or in view of their deportation. Immigration detention particularly affects the mental health of migrants, especially those with psychosocial disabilities. It can exacerbate the affect of trauma related to the migratory journey and/or forced displacement. A study revealed that anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder were commonly reported by individuals detained for immigration purposes. The study reiterates that “refugees are more vulnerable to mental illness, particularly depression and PTSD, as compared to the general population”, making refugees with disabilities all the more vulnerable to these effects on mental health.
Whether their disability was acquired during the displacement or not, the migratory journey leads to discrimination, abuse and violations of the human rights of migrants and refugees with disabilities. Thus, as today marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities, policy makers should focus on the protection of the human rights of migrants and refugees with disabilities by implementing inclusive policies, providing specific data collection and disability-responsive services.