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EU migrant workers and the right to health in the Netherlands during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Sandra Mantu

    (Radboud University, The Netherlands)

  • Lisa Berntsen

    (De Burcht (Scientific Research Institute for the Dutch Labour Movement), The Netherlands)

  • Tesseltje de Lange

    (Radboud University, The Netherlands)

  • Anita Böcker

    (Radboud University, The Netherlands)

  • Natalia Skowronek

    (Fachstelle Limita zur Prävention vor sexueller Ausbeutung, Switzerland)

Abstract

While the right to health is a basic human right recognised in international law, the COVID-19 pandemic painfully revealed that existing policies and regulations poorly protect many categories of migrant workers, not only during a pandemic, but beyond. This article draws on research data collected during the pandemic and examines the experiences of ‘essential’ EU migrant workers with Dutch health care and identifies structural barriers migrant workers face when attempting to realise fundamental health rights. We show how sedentarist biases in the configuration and delivery of the Dutch health-care system, but also in the legal-administrative residence system and the organisation of work, as well as a general lack of migrant awareness in central government regulation and communication prevent the full realisation of the right to health and undermine migrant workers’ rights.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandra Mantu & Lisa Berntsen & Tesseltje de Lange & Anita Böcker & Natalia Skowronek, 2025. "EU migrant workers and the right to health in the Netherlands during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(1), pages 105-119, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:31:y:2025:i:1:p:105-119
    DOI: 10.1177/10242589251318693
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cornel Ban & Dorothee Bohle & Marek Naczyk, 2022. "A perfect storm: COVID-19 and the reorganisation of the German meat industry," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 28(1), pages 101-118, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Henriet Baas, 2025. "Challenging ‘migration exceptionalism’ in EU anti-discrimination law: enhancing equal access to social rights for third-country national workers," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(1), pages 71-87, February.
    2. Nathan Lillie & Markku Sippola, 2025. "Introduction to special issue: Access of mobile workers to social rights in the pan-European labour market," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(1), pages 15-24, February.
    3. Éva Lukács Gellérné & Tamás Gyulavári, 2025. "Social rights of EU mobile workers: limitations through the concepts of ‘worker’ and ‘insured person’," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(1), pages 55-70, February.

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