- 50 - ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE E TAKEN IN CONJUNCTION WITH ARTICLE 13 OF THE CHARTER Article E – Non-discrimination “The enjoyment of the rights set forth in this Charter shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national extraction or social origin, health, association with a national minority, birth or other status.” Article 13 – The right to social and medical assistance Part I: “Anyone without adequate resources has the right to social and medical assistance.” Part II: “With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to social and medical assistance, the Parties undertake: 1. to ensure that any person who is without adequate resources and who is unable to secure such resources either by his own efforts or from other sources, in particular by benefits under a social security scheme, be granted adequate assistance, and, in case of sickness, the care necessitated by his condition; 2. to ensure that persons receiving such assistance shall not, for that reason, suffer from a diminution of their political or social rights; 3. to provide that everyone may receive by appropriate public or private services such advice and personal help as may be required to prevent, to remove, or to alleviate personal or family want; 4. to apply the provisions referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this article on an equal footing with their nationals to nationals of other Parties lawfully within their territories, in accordance with their obligations under the European Convention on Social and Medical Assistance, signed at Paris on 11 December 1953.” A – Submissions of the parties 1. The complainant organisation 165. Concerning medical assistance Médecins du Monde argues that it is often difficult for migrant Roma to obtain a satisfactory sickness cover, particularly owing to the complexity of the procedure for claiming it. It is difficult for the Roma to know their rights and there is a lack of guidance on or assistance with completing the complex procedures for applying for the state Medical Assistance (AME) (evidence of residence in France for a period of over three months; several appointments needed; difficulty to secure proof of residence; change in the evidence on the entitlement to AME which is no longer a simple paper document but a laminated card that cannot be forged and for the attainment of which a social security centre must be visited with identity photos and later returned to for the purpose of collecting the card; payment of an annual contribution of € 30, a sum that is beyond the reach of most Roma families living in extreme poverty). Finally, the arrangements for treatment provided free of charge to foreign nationals who are unable to demonstrate the residence of over three months and thus their entitlement to the AME – the so-called urgent and emergency treatment fund – is still underused, in particular by certain hospitals.