Historical Background of LIBE II Asylum seekers and reception standards: Safeguarding human rights in an increasingly hostile continent. Despite European-level legislation addressing asylum seekers’ right to healthcare, in reality their access to it is hindered by practical obstacles such as language barriers and improper reception facilities. What measures should be taken by Member States to safeguard the physical and mental health care needs of asylum seekers following their arrival in the EU? European migration history is a long one, reaching its peak at the end of World War II. With changes in the map of Europe subsequent to the Peace Treaty, millions found themselves were expelled from their homeland within a few years. But even before that forced migrations was recurring: from the expulsion of the Moriscos after the Reconquista, to the Huguenots escape to England, to the millions of impoverished farmer leaving the continent over 150 years to seek fortune all over the world. More recently, with the Syrian Refugee Crisis, more people have been forced to flee their homes because of armed conflict than at any time since World War II. At the same time, increasing numbers of migrants have tried to reach Europe for economic reason, clogging the system put in place to provide assistance to genuine asylum seekers.
As a reaction to this mass movement, some EU countries closed their borders, while some others increasingly alleviated their original welcoming approach. In 2016 the EU and Turkey adopted the EU-Turkey Statement, a non-binding document designed with the purpose of deterring migrants from arriving to Europe. The Italian government followed the lead in 2017, by signing several deals with Libyan tribal chiefs to curb the influx of migrants from Sub-saharan Africa.