[afro-nets] International Migration, Health and Human Rights

[Claudio Schuftan <aviva@netnam.vn>]

International Migration, Health and Human Rights
------------------------------------------------

Department of Ethics, Trade, Human Rights and Law (ETH)
Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments (SDE), World
Health Organization

Available online as Adobe PDF file (40 pp. 1 MB) at:
http://www.who.int/hhr/activities/en/intl_migration_hhr.pdf

NEW PUBLICATION CALLS FOR GREATER ATTENTION TO THE LINKAGES BE-
TWEEN INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS

On the occasion of the International Day of Migrants on December
18, WHO and several collaborators are launching the publication
"International Migration, Health and Human Rights".

Approximately 175 million people - not including the increasing
number of irregular or undocumented migrants - currently live
temporarily or permanently outside their countries of origin.
They are susceptible to many more health risks than are nation-
als.

But the issue of migrants' health is often unrecognized, and mi-
grants themselves consequently have less access to the health
care services they need.

The new publication draws attention to important human rights
issues that migration poses for health policy-makers interna-
tionally, such as the health implications of forced migration as
well as detaining and screening migrants at the borders.

The book will serve as a guide to emphasize important human
rights principles by which governments, policy makers and other
actors can design and implement health policies and programmes
in the context of migration. It sets out to demonstrate the need
for further attention, research and elaboration of policy ap-
proaches in this area.