The victims of a recent shooting at a strawberry farm in southern Greece still fear for their livelihoods and safety, Amnesty International said after a visit to the farm. A group of 33 Bangladeshi workers at the farm in Manolada were shot on 17 April by farm supervisors when they joined other workers protesting because they had not been paid for seven months. Eight of them were seriously injured.

“They hit us and said, ‘We will kill you.’ Three of them were shooting at us while the others beat us with sticks. The shooting went on for more than 20 minutes”, one of the workers told an Amnesty International delegation that visited the camp over the last few days. […]

Our latest report presents some of the results of comparative data collected in 2012 in 14 cities across seven European countries. This report covers a sample of 8,412 patients, 19,302 consultations (including 10,968 medical consultations) and 11,921 diagnoses reported by our volunteer health professionals.

In order to capture the context in which this data collection took place, a concise update on the national legislations of these seven countries has been included. We also added to the quantitative data a number of qualitative reports from our field teams on the most important European trends identified by our network.

The crisis has generated austerity measures that have had a deep impact on all social safety nets, including healthcare provision. Groups who were already facing numerous vulnerability factors before the crisis, such as migrants, drug users, destitute European citizens and homeless people, have seen a reduction in or a termination of social safety nets and networks which provide them with basic help. Whilst all levels of the population must cope with increasing poverty, we are witnessing a significant increase in xenophobic actions and declarations against migrants, who have become the scapegoats of a situation which is making them even more vulnerable. […]

Migrant workers from Tajikistan, hundreds of thousands of whom reside in the RF, had placed high hopes on the agreement signed between the immigration services of both countries on February 8, 2013, which they had hoped would simplify the process of migrant registration and extend the length of time they would be permitted to work in the RF to three years. It is evident that the agreements governing migrant workers arose in the context of the ratification of Russian-Tajik agreements regarding the Russian military base in the Republic of Tajikistan.

However, despite what would seem to be mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, the actions on the ground directly contradict the interests of Tajik migration policies and the agreements achieved in this sphere - on the very day that the agreement was signed, a special operations raid was conducted in St. Petersburg which rounded up almost a thousand migrant workers, many of whom were Tajik. […]

This survey, based on 1 218 interviews in 11 countries - Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom, bears witness to living conditions, state of health and access to health care of the poorest and most discriminated against people: the undocumented migrants.

Among the results, the survey shows that Access to health care is unequal between European countries, but it is also very restrictive in all of them. The medical care of undocumented migrants is largely inadequate. 72% of their health problems are poorly or not at all treated. […]

Médecins du Monde (MdM) has been since its creation particularly sensitive to the issue of migrants , who are some of the most vulnerable groups throughout the world, especially in terms of the right to health and of effective access to health care. In this respect, Europe is no exception. Even though the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights reaffirms the right of everyone to access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment (article 35), it is limited by the conditions established by national laws and practices. There is therefore a wide gap between the general principle of access to health care and its application in each country.

As a result, in most European Union (EU) countries, foreigners (especially undocumented migrants’) access to health care is much more restricted than it is for nationals. In some countries, they have access only to vital emergency health care; in others, even if access to health care is in the law, its effectiveness is limited by complex procedures. […]