Physicians for Human Rights-Israel: Migrants and Refugees Department > Reports

Within the State of Israel the national health coverage does not apply on a large population of immigrants. This population includes, among others, migrant workers, refugees and persons seeking asylum, children of Israeli residents that do not have a legal status and women who are who have been disenfranchised by the Amendment to the Nationality Law. Since in Israel there is a strict correlation between a person’s civil status and the entitlement to social rights, therefore, there are persons without legal standing who are denied the possibility of realizing their right to health, in an appropriate and equal way. Many such persons are unable to access health care in any way. The Department of Migrants and Persons with no Civil Status endeavors to protect the immigrants’ rights to health, to have them included in public health settlements, to sever the ties between civil status and entitlement to social rights, and to promote a “social residency” status that will enable immigrants’ entitlement to rights unconditioned upon their civil status.