Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
Find the full transcript below:
Racism, violence, institutional abandonment and unbearable living conditions. These are all factors that damage the mental health of migrants and exiled people. That’s exactly what migrants in Ceuta are experiencing since July.
Does the EU really care about migrants’ mental health? The conditions in which they often find themselves in Europe create stress, anxiety and a lack of hope. These have very concrete effects on their psychological state.
Léa has been working in Ceuta since July as a volunteer for the non profit organisation No Name Kitchen, that supports migrants and refugees. In an interview with our partner inside the Sphera network, El Salto, she speaks about the migrants she has met so far. Her name has been changed:
“In these months I have seen the change in the boys’ faces. As the weeks passed they transformed. It was them, but it wasn’t them anymore.”
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When journalist Sarah Babiker from El Salto spoke to those who are closest to the migrants in Ceuta, she noticed that they all describe a climate of intense tension and speak about a mental health crisis.
Léa is observing systematic violence on the city streets: “I didn’t find a single person who hadn’t had experiences of violence or racism with security forces or neighbors.” In this context, she says, more and more people are asking for care for mental health problems. Some do not request it explicitly, but would actually need it.
Migrating is an obstacle course that takes a toll not only on bodies but also on mental health. Léa stresses that every phase of migration is traumatic: before crossing the border, during the crossing, and also on arrival. Migrants are experiencing wars, sometimes death and distress.
As a result, they are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety. On top of this, there is the case of people who already had mental health problems beforehand and can no longer be followed up or treated correctly.
So how do authorities take that into account? Let’s be clear: access to psychosocial care is very limited in the support provided to migrants.
Legislation varies from one EU member state to another, because there is no common European legislation on mental health care for new arrivals.
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What happens is that the measures in place often apply only to those with refugee status. There is often no care at all while people wait for a decision on their case. This takes months, if not years.
What’s more, the language barrier and the fear of being deported often make it harder for people to speak openly and ask for help. In Ceuta, healthcare centres, or workers, are often difficult to access because of harassment from security forces, neighbours or, sometimes, the far-right.
For example, Léa recalls that one time when taking migrants to Médecins du Monde, they were forced to stop and get out of the car. The migrants believed for a few minutes that they were going to be deported. She describes how they were subjected to racist remarks, while the authorities refused to call Médecins du Monde to check that they were indeed heading there, preferring to arrest them.
That’s why taking care of mental health cannot go without recognising the most basic human rights.
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The problem is that politics seems to go in the opposite direction: Several NGOs and mental health organizations have already pointed out that tighter border controls, temporary reception facilities and, more broadly, the hardening of migration policies risk worsening psychosocial distress. They also make it even harder to identify vulnerable people with mental health problems.
So what do we do about it? In Sweden, Red Cross trauma centres treat refugees whatever their papers say, with interpreters in the room. In Ireland, a charity offers free counselling with no documents needed, and they insist that nothing is shared with immigration. In Germany, no less than fifty centres help survivors of torture, war and forced displacement.
Those places care for everyone in their own language, without fear, factors that are essential to supporting migrants’ mental health.
One last word to conclude: the struggle migrants face surely complicates their integration. But more importantly: this struggle doesn’t disappear when their status is cleared.
Even when allowed to stay legally on the territory, they face racism and discrimination, further poisoning their integration and thus feeding the far right discourse.