Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HEAVEN (HeaVen - Venezuelan migration, human rights and intersectoral strategies: Towards a new right to primary health care for irregular migrants in Colombia)
Période du rapport: 2021-10-01 au 2023-03-31
What is the problem/issue being addressed?
In most countries, health & its social determinants for irregular migrants are normally cared for in exceptional situations of emergency, outside a preventive and promotional paradigm of public health & without fully complying with human rights frameworks. Using Colombia as a case study, HEAVEN aims to understand such a resistance & attempt to conceptualize a right to primary health care for irregular migrants, according to interdisciplinary standards, and in the light of the practice & opinions of many state and non-state actors that offer a response to the health needs of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.
Why is it important for society?
HEAVEN objectives and activities target the relations between health and migration, promoting human rights, public health social medicine standards. These are phenomena with strong social, economic and legal implications. Besides undertaking a rigorous socio-legal study, the project includes strategic litigation, advocacy and interdisciplinary training & teaching activities.
What are the overall objectives?
Overall, HEAVEN aims to develop a primary health care-based paradigm of rights implementation for irregular migrants. Specific objectives include: systematizing and analysing applicable law and policy regulations; outlining the conceptual and operational contours of the human right to PHC of irregular migrants via interdisciplinary research and empirical data collection to understand whether and how actors in the field adopt or may adopt a human rights-based approach to health that meets core rights obligations; employing HEAVEN’s findings to stimulate and contribute to legal and other advocacy initiatives both nationally and internationally; discussing and communicating preliminary and final research findings with key stakeholders, including government officials, judges, UN human rights experts and development community agents.
In most countries, health & its social determinants for irregular migrants are normally cared for in exceptional situations of emergency, outside a preventive and promotional paradigm of public health & without fully complying with human rights frameworks. Using Colombia as a case study, HEAVEN aims to understand such a resistance & attempt to conceptualize a right to primary health care for irregular migrants, according to interdisciplinary standards, and in the light of the practice & opinions of many state and non-state actors that offer a response to the health needs of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.
Why is it important for society?
HEAVEN objectives and activities target the relations between health and migration, promoting human rights, public health social medicine standards. These are phenomena with strong social, economic and legal implications. Besides undertaking a rigorous socio-legal study, the project includes strategic litigation, advocacy and interdisciplinary training & teaching activities.
What are the overall objectives?
Overall, HEAVEN aims to develop a primary health care-based paradigm of rights implementation for irregular migrants. Specific objectives include: systematizing and analysing applicable law and policy regulations; outlining the conceptual and operational contours of the human right to PHC of irregular migrants via interdisciplinary research and empirical data collection to understand whether and how actors in the field adopt or may adopt a human rights-based approach to health that meets core rights obligations; employing HEAVEN’s findings to stimulate and contribute to legal and other advocacy initiatives both nationally and internationally; discussing and communicating preliminary and final research findings with key stakeholders, including government officials, judges, UN human rights experts and development community agents.
Concerning research activities, the researcher prepared, summitted and reviewed applications to the ethical committees of both the beneficiary (Queen’s University Belfast - QUB) and TC partner organization (Universidad del Rosario - UR). He conducted non-empirical data collection & empirical data collection (networking building; direct and participant observation aka ‘short visits’ with 2 humanitarian actors in the field; 20 semi structured interviews with agents of NGOs, public institutions and humanitarian actors and 4 focus groups. Coding & initial thematic analysis are complete.
Collaboration with staff at TC and home institution, training and transfer of knowledge have been particularly successful during the period covered by this first report. Among other things, the researcher attended / participated in 6 professional development modules offered at UR & QUB and 2 intensive research and subject-related trainings (more details in technical report part B). At UR, he was invited as guest lecturer in 6 different undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and a winter school, and designed, taught and coordinated a 16-session interdisciplinary module on ‘health and migration’. At QUB, he was invited to deliver a guest lecture at students of the Faculty of Arts, and actively engaged with Fellowship Academy’s staff, including the delivery of a training on how to apply to a MSCA fellowship. With his mentor at QUB, he delivered a MSCA informational session at Lund University, where he was invited for the presentation of his book. He supervised the thesis of a master’s student and acted as external examiner for a PhD candidate. Thanks to the researcher’s networking activities in the country, UR reached 2 research-training agreements with the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO). Related training activities, under the leadership of the researcher, have started in 2022. Furthermore, the researched teamed up with 2 legal clinics at UR to undertake strategic litigation activities on the faulty implementation of migrant health rights in Colombia.
Dissemination, communication, exploitation activities included: publication of a piece for the research bulletin at UR; 1 newspaper article of 1000 words; 2 open access peer-reviewed journal articles. HEAVEN’s partial findings were presented at 2 university-based seminars, 2 national and 2 international conferences. Research-related activities grounded the design, preparation & realization of 1 interdisciplinary half-day conference on the social determinants of health for migrant populations in Colombia; 3 training courses (12 hours each) for community health leaders (in collaboration with IOM); design of a 30-hour course on health, migration and conflict for medica, policy, humanitarian staff (in collaboration with PAHO); brainstorming and initial drafting for a research report with DeJusticia (the most influential human rights NGO in Colombia) – to be published by end of 2023.
Besides, during the period covered by the First Report, the researcher published 2 books and 2 peer-reviewed articles which were submitted to the publishers before the MSCA fellowship started.
Collaboration with staff at TC and home institution, training and transfer of knowledge have been particularly successful during the period covered by this first report. Among other things, the researcher attended / participated in 6 professional development modules offered at UR & QUB and 2 intensive research and subject-related trainings (more details in technical report part B). At UR, he was invited as guest lecturer in 6 different undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and a winter school, and designed, taught and coordinated a 16-session interdisciplinary module on ‘health and migration’. At QUB, he was invited to deliver a guest lecture at students of the Faculty of Arts, and actively engaged with Fellowship Academy’s staff, including the delivery of a training on how to apply to a MSCA fellowship. With his mentor at QUB, he delivered a MSCA informational session at Lund University, where he was invited for the presentation of his book. He supervised the thesis of a master’s student and acted as external examiner for a PhD candidate. Thanks to the researcher’s networking activities in the country, UR reached 2 research-training agreements with the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO). Related training activities, under the leadership of the researcher, have started in 2022. Furthermore, the researched teamed up with 2 legal clinics at UR to undertake strategic litigation activities on the faulty implementation of migrant health rights in Colombia.
Dissemination, communication, exploitation activities included: publication of a piece for the research bulletin at UR; 1 newspaper article of 1000 words; 2 open access peer-reviewed journal articles. HEAVEN’s partial findings were presented at 2 university-based seminars, 2 national and 2 international conferences. Research-related activities grounded the design, preparation & realization of 1 interdisciplinary half-day conference on the social determinants of health for migrant populations in Colombia; 3 training courses (12 hours each) for community health leaders (in collaboration with IOM); design of a 30-hour course on health, migration and conflict for medica, policy, humanitarian staff (in collaboration with PAHO); brainstorming and initial drafting for a research report with DeJusticia (the most influential human rights NGO in Colombia) – to be published by end of 2023.
Besides, during the period covered by the First Report, the researcher published 2 books and 2 peer-reviewed articles which were submitted to the publishers before the MSCA fellowship started.
During the next 11 months (the period covered by the final report), the researcher will continue to engage with UR for work related to the IOM & PAHO trainings & strategic litigation. He will publish a research report with Dejusticia, including launch activities with a diverse target public. He will start drafting and publication processes for at least another journal article (more details in technical report part B). Overall he will perform research, training & transfer of knowledge, dissemination & communication activities in the host countries & internationally, strengthening network activities in the European host organization, and as such including editorial activities for a well-recognised UK-based academic journal & a blog, research and methods trainings for PhD students, co-editing of a special issue of an internationally recognised journal, the organization of a roundtable and a final conference on the results’ topics, in line with the DoA.