Eurodiaconia outlines some of the major obstacles migrants face in accessing their social rights and make recommendations for the EU and member states to improve migrants' access to social rights and to prevent situations of social exclusion and poverty of migrants.

Migration is a phenomenon of a globalised world. The UN predicts that based on current trends, the number of people migrating worldwide will increase by 40 per cent over the next 40 years.1 The situation of European countries and their individual migratory flows are diverse, as well as their history of the integration of migrants. However, migrants across Europe are today among the most vulnerable groups in society2 and are often socially excluded through lack of access to rights, employment, education and social services. Members of Eurodiaconia, as major providers of social and health care services witness increasing social exclusion and poverty experienced by people of a migrant background which they say have only been exacerbated by the financial and economic crisis and the consequent austerity measures. We believe that social rights, including universal access to quality social and health care services is essential to prevent social exclusion and poverty of migrants in Europe and we are concerned that these rights are not being fully respected or protected by the European Union and the Member States. This paper highlights the impact migration has had on social services in Europe, and outlines some of the major obstacles migrants face in accessing their social rights. We also make recommendations for the EU and member states to improve migrants‟ access to social rights and to prevent situations of social exclusion and poverty of migrants. In this paper we have focussed mainly on intra-EU and undocumented migrants since our members see these as particularly vulnerable groups in society.

Source: Social Platform