Category: Germany

In Germany, undocumented migrants are at risk of privacy violations and deportation if they try to access healthcare services. This is because the social welfare office is obliged to share personal data of undocumented migrants with immigration authorities.

GFF and Médecins du Monde are supporting one or more people in legal action, seeking a ruling that current data reporting is unconstitutional as it breaches rights to privacy and to health of undocumented migrants.

In 2022, GFF and Médecins du Monde a supported a seriously ill plaintiff from Kosovo filed a complaint aiming to ensure the plaintiff plaintiff could  receive medical care and have this obligation to report declared unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court.

Unfortunately, the Federal Constitutional Court did not accept the constitutional complaint – without justification. GFF argue this shows that people without a residence permit are not only denied the right to health, but also access to effective legal protection.

Despite the negative court ruling, since 2023 the plaintiff has had safe residence status and health insurance again, and was able to receive the necessary medical treatment.

Additionally, GFF, Médecins du Monde and 45 other organisations have filed two complaints to the European Commission, the first in 2021 and the second in 2024.