Today Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Europe releases a report on destitution of forced migrants in twelve EU Member States (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and Ukraine). The report shows that it is not fate but policies of states that completely exclude certain groups of migrants from any official assistance and leave them in distress and penury. Access to housing, health care, education, welfare and work are especially worrisome. The policies across the different states are not coherent: But they are violating the human rights of the affected migrants and cause severe social problems. The EU must develop laws that ensure respect of human rights for everybody regardless of status.

During the research for this report, JRS met a group of irregular migrants in a park in Spain. They were six young men all from Burkina Faso who had been in Spain for between three months and one year. Some spoke Spanish very fluently.. All of them were undocumented. Their aim was to work and earn enough money to support their families and to eventually return. In Burkina Faso they had no perspective but in Spain they only could find odd jobs such as car washing. They lived on the streets, in parks, some in apartments of friends. They did not receive any social assistance. “We are in an impasse”, one of them said, “without perspectives neither in Burkina nor in Spain.”

Whereas the situation differs to some extent from one Member State to the other, several common threads can be discerned throughout Europe. “States have adopted laws and policies that to a large extent exclude certain groups of migrants from access to basic social rights”, says Stefan Kessler, Senior Policy Officer with JRS Europe. “Destitute migrants have no or very limited access to public goods and services under law in terms of health care, employment, housing, financial support and material assistance such as food and clothing. Even if access to goods and services is guaranteed under law, it is often denied in practice due to complex administrative procedures, unclear laws and lack of knowledge of the service providers. Furthermore, many destitute migrants who stay illegally on the territory fear detention and removal and for this reason do not try to gain State support.”

Migrants become stuck in a downward spiral of destitution. It affects their physical and mental health. The risk of being pushed into depression or ending up on the streets is very high.

JRS Europe recalls that human rights apply to every person, regardless of nationality or legal status. The policies of EU Member States are clearly violating these human rights of the affected migrants and cause severe social problems.

JRS appeals to governments of EU Member States to immediately change their policies in order to ensure that everyone has access to basic social rights such as housing, education, social assistance or work. The European Union, in turn, must develop stricter regulations forcing governments to guarantee access to those rights. In particular, the European Parliament is encouraged to set up an investigation into the situation of destitute forced migrants in the EU Member States and publicly take a firm stance on this issue.

The report can be accessed at http://www.jrseurope.org/news_releases/ANDES%20report2010.htm.