Migration, rights & health
Migration is a universal phenomenon. Throughout the world, people seek protection and a better life. Doctors of the World (MdM in its French acronym) has a long-standing commitment to working with exiles. From the boat people lost in the China Sea during the 1980s to those attempting to cross the Mediterranean today, the organisation continues to assist people who risk their lives to leave their home country. It provides care and support and bears witness to the intolerable.
Through its international network, MdM is present on several continents. In Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, we are active on all the migratory routes. We work everywhere from crisis areas to destination countries – particularly in Europe –, including in transit countries such as Algeria and Turkey, at the gateway to Europe in Greece and Italy and along the Balkan route. But we are also present between the north of Central America and Mexico, where complex migratory flows occur. And whilst the reality of situations may differ, the policy dynamics remain identical and the consequences for the people are invariably the same: rejection, violence, violation of the most basic rights, no access to care and exclusion.
Given the reality of a world on the move, increasingly tough migratory policies and the ‘migrant reception and solidarity crisis’ affecting Europe, in 2015 MdM renewed its associative project reaffirming the importance of access to healthcare on the migratory route and of receiving and supporting migrants as a core element of its social remit. This priority applies equally to operational issues and to political advocacy, in France and abroad. MdM is committed to assisting the most vulnerable people during their exile, caring for them and reestablishing their access to medical and psychosocial care.