Together with two colleagues from the International Institute of Social Studies, Prof. Richard Staring, professor of Empirical Criminology at Erasmus School of Law, created a policy brief about realising health rights of undocumented people in the Netherlands. The brief deals with the question why so many migrants who were denied asylum fail to exercise their legal rights to medically necessary healthcare.
Prof. Staring wrote this article in cooperation with Dr Helen Hintjens, Assistant Professor in Development and Social Justice, and Dr Karin Siegmann, Senior Lecturer in Labor and Gender Economics, both from the International Institute of Social Studies. The authors found that undocumented people face various informal barriers, and often choose to self-exclude by not seeking healthcare at all.
Obstacles to securing healthcare are the unawareness of rights or not feeling entitled, the fear of the authorities, the inability to pay, and attitudes and knowledge of medical healthcare providers. Even more worrying is the finding that some healthcare providers reportedly did not know that undocumented people are entitled to medical treatment under the law. The policy brief gives recommendations on how this problem can be addressed by giving both short-term and long-term goals that can be achieved to reach the realization of health rights of undocumented people in the Netherlands.
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