Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration has decided that applicants for international protection who have not yet been given a final decision on their case, will still have access to the national social security system of the country.
Through a statement issued on December 22, the European Commission’s Website on Integration said that such a decision followed numerous complaints that asylum seekers, especially those who had received initial rejections and were deleted from the social security system before a final decision was made on their case, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“This was the result of a six-year delay in the transposition into Spanish national law of an EU directive which sets out different processes for the reception of applicants for international protection, including in relation to their employment,” the statement reads.
According to the EU Commission, as a result of this decision, thousands of families will now be able to continue to live, work and have access to healthcare in Spain, while their asylum appeals are still pending.
After a visit to Spain in November, the Commissioner of the Council of Europe for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, emphasised that in recent years Spain has made considerable efforts to advance the protection of social rights.
Regarding the fundamental legislative reforms currently pending in Parliament, Mijatovic added that they offer an opportunity to harmonise Spanish legislation with international and European human rights standards, including in the area of freedom of expression and assembly, and should be approved without delay.
In addition, she pointed out that Spain must do much more to ensure access to rights for the most vulnerable and to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.
After the Commissioner welcomed last year’s ratification of the Revised European Social Charter and its collective complaints mechanism, she said that in order to address inequalities in access to social rights across Spain, the authorities must allocate resources in a transparent and sustainable way.
At the same time, the country should also adopt common standards in cooperation with the competent authorities at the central and local levels to meet the specific needs of the most vulnerable groups.
Furthermore, it was noted that in this type of decision-making, the participation of citizens plays a key role in the drafting of social policies in accordance with the needs of society. Meanwhile, civil society organisations should be consulted and properly involved in all phases.
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