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The global pandemic has been limited to asylum and threatened the rights of refugees, but it has also shown the price of protective displaced persons, says Gillian Triggs of UNHCR.
GENEVA – While the COVID-19 pandemic has “deeply tested” global engagement with refugees and forciined persons, it has also demonstrated the price of adding refugees in national responses and protection nets to gain benefits for all, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs said today.
Many governments around the world have closed their borders and limited access to asylum in reaction to the spread of the coronavirus, yet the UN Refugee Agency has always been transparent that it is imaginable to protect against the pandemic and make access to refugees fair. and immediate asylum processes, Triggs said at the annual meeting of the UNHCR Executive Committee in Geneva.
“The pandemic has shown us the importance of running together, sharing daily work, and making sure fitness and other social activities satisfy the desires of all of us, not just a few,” Triggs said. “The virus does not discriminate between legal prestige and nationality. Access to fitness does not depend on citizenship or visa requirements. »
These values of inclusion and solidarity with refugees and persons forcicified have been enshrined in the Global Covenant on Refugees, approved through 181 governments in 2018 and resulted in concrete actions in December last year at the World Refugee Forum in Geneva, where countries, NGOs, refugees, businesses and other stakeholders came here in combination and made 1,400 promises to realize the Vision of the Covenant.
“A few weeks later . . . the spirit and optimism about the Covenant and the Forum had to be very well tested during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Triggs said.
See also: UNHCR Gillian Triggs warns he opposes COVID-19, which is a serious protection for refugees
The pandemic has posed a number of demanding situations and led to setbacks for the protection of refugees: at the height of the crisis, 168 countries completely closed or closed their borders, and 90 without exceptions for asylum seekers; some have returned, adding children. , to their countries of origin.
“As the pandemic subsides, and indeed it will over time, a priority remains to repair fully operational asylum systems and access to territory for all asylum seekers. Measures that restrict access will not be allowed. to asylum are consolidated under the guise of public health, ”said the Deputy High Commissioner.
In addition to threats to fitness and access to asylum, the pandemic has also violated the social and economic rights of refugees and displaced persons. Since the most vulnerable populations depend on the informal economy, they were among the first to suffer the economic effects of confinement, lose their jobs and be evicted from their homes.
At the same time, Save the Children estimates that refugees, many of whom are women, account for about 40% of the 9. 7 million young people who would possibly never return to school after leaving the pandemic, canceling years of progress for certain women to have an education.
See also: Don’t let the COVID-19 pandemic derail refugee education
The pandemic has also reduced the availability of sustainable responses to long-term displacement.
The number of vulnerable refugees safely resetged in new countries reduced the pandemic. For the first time, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration have had to suspend exits and the total number of resettlements: lately less than 12,000 compared to last year’s 107,800. – it is expected to reach a record by 2020.
“UNHCR colleagues are exploring all possibilities to expand resettlement and other normal tactics to solutions,” Triggs promises.
The preferred option for maximum refugees is to return to their home country when situations permit. For many protracted conflict-related crises, especially in Afghanistan, Syria and Myanmar, this has proved complicated because returns are still safe. it also threw new barriers to voluntary repatriation.
“In this era of COVID, some states have even been reluctant to welcome their own citizens despite citizens’ right to return to their countries, a right that will have to be respected,” Triggs said.
With fewer opportunities for resettlement and voluntary repatriation, more emphasis is placed on the inclusion of refugees in the lives of their host countries, adding their social services, school systems and labour markets.
“The long term will have to be inclusion. “
“The inclusion of refugees in a host country, of course, means that they too, as hosts, will have to be supported through the foreign community, especially when the return of refugees is detrimental in protracted conflicts,” he added.
Despite the many demanding situations posed by the pandemic, some facets of the global reaction have provided evidence of optimism and revealed new equipment and responses to address demanding global long-term situations, such as climate change.
“COVID-19 has given us confidence in virtual technologies. They have proven to be very effective in remote selling to asylum systems and management and advisory services,” Triggs said. “There will be no turning back. At UNHCR, we hope to expand these technologies, expand them, and provide broader policy and more effective foreign protection. “
“Another lesson learned in recent months is that we know that the pandemic will affect us all. We can no longer exclude others based on their legal status,” he concluded. “The long term will have to be of shared inclusion and responsibility, where social and economic rights [. . . ] can be exercised through all forcici-force displaced persons around the world. “
To access a knowledge visualization situation that appears to have a pandemic effect on refugee rights, click here.
© UNHCR 2001-2020
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