A/HRC/14/30 birth of premature babies and increased risks of serious illness or death.37 Further, where migrant parents are deprived of health care, their children will also likely be deprived of such care. 36. The legal status of migrant parents may also affect access to health care by migrant children. While some migrant children may be citizens of the host country by virtue of jus soli, they may still face obstacles in accessing health care, in particular if their parents are migrants in irregular situations and therefore reluctant to seek health care for fear of their immigration status being detected. Similarly, many children in irregular situations are not enrolled in schemes for low-income migrant children that provide health care regardless of ability to pay, because their parents are reluctant to approach the social services for fear of being reported to the authorities.38 37. In addition, certain laws, policies and measures may indirectly hamper irregular migrant children’s access to health. For instance, in some countries, a parent must be a regular migrant in order to obtain a birth certificate for her child, thus making access to health care difficult for children of migrants in irregular situations. 38. The Special Rapporteur also expresses particular concern about the administrative detention of migrant children and recalls his earlier pronouncements that the detention of migrant children should be a last resort.39 He notes with concern that children suffering from serious medical conditions as well as children with disabilities were routinely kept in detention despite guidelines stating clearly they should not be. The health concerns for migrant children in detention are further exacerbated by the provision of inadequate medical services and treatment.40 Further, there is a failure to properly diagnose the mental health of children as well as inadequate access to counselling and other assistance.41 V. The right to adequate housing for migrants 39. The importance of ensuring the fulfilment of the right to adequate housing cannot be overemphasized, given its relationship to the realization of other fundamental human rights, such as the right to health. Clearly, the lack of adequate housing may trigger many health problems, such as poor nutrition, mental health problems and substance abuse,42 as well as illness caused by the lack of safe drinking water or sleeping rough. Despite the importance of this right, there still remains “a disturbingly large gap” between international human rights standards and the situation prevailing in many parts of the world,43 in particular with respect to migrant women and children. 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 GE.10-12615 See for example Amnesty International, Disposable Labour: Rights of Migrant Workers in South Korea (London, 2009), p. 78. F. Crépeau and others, “Right and access to healthcare for undocumented children: addressing the gap between international conventions and disparate implementations in North America and Europe”, Social Science and Medicine, vol. 70, No. 2 (January 2010), p. 5. Available from http://ssrn.com/ abstract=1513419. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants (A/HRC/11/7), paras. 43 and 60. See “The arrest and detention of children subject to immigration control: a report following the Children’s Commissioner for England’s visit to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre” (11 Million, 2009). See “The Children’s Commissioner for England’s follow up report to: The arrest and detention of children subject to immigration control” (11 Million, 2010), pp. 44–46. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (Australia), “Homelessness is a human rights issue” (2008), p. 8. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 4 (1991), para. 4. 11