Download PDF: The Ethics of Mental Healthcare for asylum seekers (881.9 KB)
Asylum seekers arrive to host states with various needs and rights. In policy, it is tacitly assumed that the host state has an immediate obligation to provide for the more urgent of these needs and rights and that others may be provided for at a later time. This report suggests making a clearer distinction between the two kinds of obligations (deferrable obligations and non-deferrable obligations), developing a set of criteria to assist in determining into which category some particular obligation falls, urging policymakers to remove both legal and practical barriers to rights – particularly in regards to healthcare and mental health, since asylum seekers and refugees face distinctive challenges in these areas.