Washington, DC, 27 September 2017 (PAHO/WHO) - Even though health is a prerequisite for human well-being, health concerns have so far been virtually absent in international discussions about the planned Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, said health leaders from the Americas during a side event at the 29th Pan American Sanitary Conference.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is a work in progress that was urged by the United Nations General Assembly in its 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants. That declaration called for protecting the security, dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their status. The declaration itself does not, however, directly address issues surrounding migrants' health, and the Global Compact is currently being developed along six thematic lines that do not include health.

"If we want to achieve the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030 to leave no one behind, it is imperative that the health needs of migrants are adequately addressed in the Global Compact on migration," said Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Panelists at the side event, which was proposed by Mexico and other countries, said that health should be at the center of any migration policy, and that PAHO's Secretariat and Member States should collectively advocate for its inclusion in the new Global Compact.   

"The right to health is also a right of migrants," said PAHO Deputy Director Francisco Becerra, citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the right to move freely, to choose residence and to an adequate standard of living that ensures health and well-being.

Hilda Davila, Director of International Relations in Mexico's Secretariat of Health, said her country has learned valuable lessons from dealing with its own emigrants and migrants from Central America and other areas.

"We need to move from humanitarian assistance for migrants towards effective, safe access by migrants to health services," she said, adding that mental health and women's health should receive particular attention, as migrant populations have special needs in this regard.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development addresses the issue of migration in its Goal 10 (Reduce Inequities), which calls for facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people. At regional and global levels, PAHO and WHO both approved resolutions on migrant health, in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Last April in Mexico, ministers and senior health officials from Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic signed the Ministerial Declaration on Migration and Health, which establishes a series of joint working agreements to improve available information on the health situation of migrants and create partnerships to address their health needs in a comprehensive and timely manner.

In the 2016 PAHO resolution, the health authorities of the Americas agreed to develop health policies and programs that address health inequities affecting migrants, and to strengthen health systems so that they can address the health needs of this vulnerable population. They also undertook to move forward to provide migrants with access to the same level of financial protection and comprehensive, quality and progressively expanded health services as those enjoyed by others living in the same territory, regardless of their immigration status.

Links

Global Compact on Migration
PAHO Resolution on the health of migrants
WHO resolution on the health of refugees and migrants
New York Declaration (in English)