Health, health services and mental health

Concerned that children without a residence permit are not considered eligible to be registered as patients with general practitioners and are entitled to emergency healthcare only, that there is a high incidence of mental illness among unaccompanied asylum-seeking children living in reception centres and that mental healthcare is not uniformly accessible or developed across regions, and recalling its general comment No. 15 (2013) on the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee recommends that the State Party:

(a) Provide de facto access for asylum-seeking children and children without residence permits to primary and mental healthcare services, and ensure that undocumented children have access to a family doctor

(b) Allocate more and earmarked resources to ensure that children in all municipalities receive the same level of healthcare and specialist health services