Healthcare Services for Asylum-Seekers: Untangling the European Social Charter

Asylum-seekers, like any population, need healthcare services, yet national laws sometimes restrict access to such services. The European Social Charter (revised) protects the right to health and medical services. However, the Charter has a complex application, and its scope is limited concerning foreigners. This article analyses to what extent the provisions of the Charter on the right to health and medical assistance apply to adult asylum-seekers. It shows that the Charter may apply to various degrees to asylum-seekers depending on several circumstances, such as the national definition of residence or regular work, grounds for seeking asylum, citizenship or lack thereof. Depending on these factors, some asylum-seekers may receive full healthcare services, whereas others may have only limited rights. The article shows that the migrant statuses created by national and EU law do not fit in the system of statuses in the Charter, which might produce legal hindrances to accessing health-related rights for asylum-seekers. The article also discusses the possible ways for the European Committee of Social Rights to further expand the scope of the Charter’s application.