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Resolution 1997 (2014) Final version
Migrants and refugees and the fight against Aids
1. The right to health is a fundamental
human right. Because of its universal nature, the right to health applies
to all individuals, including migrants, regardless of their status.
Access to care is a key aspect of the right to health.
2. Migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, are a particularly
vulnerable group in relation to the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV). Their high rate of infection is due to the epidemiological
situation in their countries of origin and the problems that migrants
face in accessing information and treatment for the virus once they
are living in Europe.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly is concerned that migrants suffer
multiple forms of discrimination and stigmatisation when they test
positive for HIV/Aids. Some countries go as far as denying them
entry into their territory or refusing them the renewal of residence
permits. The Assembly is also concerned about policies which require
obligatory HIV testing, and testing which is carried out without
the consent of the migrants concerned.
4. Migrants are all too often deterred from accessing prevention
and treatment services because of a range of factors. These may
be linked to language, cultural and social barriers and to difficulties
in accessing the labour market, social services and housing. Financial
barriers are also an important factor when States impose charges
for testing and treatment for HIV. Furthermore, irregular migrants
face the additional problem linked to the fear of their immigration
status being reported if they approach the health authorities. All
these factors lead to a phenomenon of non-recourse or delayed recourse
to care, or an impossibility to access care, which could have disastrous
implications for both individual and public health and lead in the
long term to an increase in health expenditure.
5. The Assembly notes that in most European countries there is
a lack of data and information about HIV transmission among migrants.
There is also a lack of psychological support and insufficient information
and education given to them about testing, treatment and safe-sex
practices, which may contribute to the transmission of the virus.
6. The Assembly is convinced that every person, including regular
and irregular migrants, living with HIV/Aids in member States of
the Council of Europe should have free access to treatment. The
Assembly believes that such a measure is in the best interests of
HIV-positive individuals and public health as a whole because it reduces
the risk of passing the virus on to others and cuts down on the
high costs of emergency and other treatment.
7. The Assembly considers that an HIV-positive migrant should
never be expelled when it is clear that he or she will not receive
adequate health care and assistance in the country to which he or
she is being sent back. To do otherwise would amount to a death
sentence for that person.
8. The Assembly considers that, in view of the number of migrants,
including refugees and asylum seekers, living in Europe with HIV,
and the particular problems they face, it is necessary to take a
number of special measures concerning this vulnerable group.
9. The Assembly therefore calls on member States to ensure that
HIV programmes and services for migrants are provided on an appropriate
and sufficient scale, and more particularly:
9.1. regarding legislative measures, to:
9.1.1. review
and revise their legislation with the aim of removing discriminatory
provisions and legal barriers which hamper preventative measures
and treatment of migrants with HIV/Aids;
9.1.2. remove provisions in domestic law which bar migrants with
HIV from entering the country or which allow them to be expelled
solely on account of their HIV status;
9.1.3. include in domestic law the notion of protection of seriously
ill foreigners, providing for protection from expulsion where appropriate
treatment is not available in the country to which they are due
to be expelled or where such treatment is not realistically accessible
for the person concerned in view of his or her individual situation;
9.1.4. provide that no person should be detained solely because
of his or her HIV status;
9.1.5. adopt anti-discrimination provisions regarding all migrants
with HIV and ensure the monitoring of the issue by specialist bodies;
9.2. regarding access to testing, treatment and preventative
measures, to:
9.2.1. ensure that gender-specific HIV prevention
and treatment policies are developed at national and international
levels;
9.2.2. ensure that migrants have access to information concerning
prevention, testing and treatment of HIV;
9.2.3. guarantee that HIV testing is provided to migrants on
a voluntary and anonymous basis;
9.2.4. ensure that all migrants, regular or irregular, have free
and universal access to HIV testing and counselling, as well as
to sex education and awareness-raising programmes on the prevention
of HIV/Aids;
9.2.5. ensure that vulnerable groups among migrants, in particular
women, children, men who have sex with men and sex workers, who
are particularly at risk of infection, receive special attention;
9.2.6. guarantee that the needs of refugees and asylum seekers
are taken into account, in view of the traumas they may have faced
and continue to face;
9.2.7. ensure that HIV drugs and treatment are affordable and
available for all migrants with the virus, and that the private
sector, including drugs companies, is fully involved in providing effective
answers in the fight against the HIV epidemic;
9.2.8. dissociate their immigration policy from health policy,
where appropriate by abolishing the obligation on health professionals
to report migrants in an irregular situation;
9.3. regarding policy measures, to:
9.3.1. adopt or
revise, as appropriate, national plans to fight HIV/Aids, including
in the plans a specific section on migrants. This should be done
with input from those affected by the virus and in consultation
with representatives of civil society;
9.3.2. increase the funding of HIV/Aids services in low- and
middle-income countries through member States’ development and co-operation
policies;
9.3.3. increase funding and support for representatives of civil
society working with HIV-positive migrants.