Restrictions impeding access to asylum, spiraling gender-based violence, risks of unsafe returns, and loss of livelihoods are among some of the deep and hard-hitting impacts the coronavirus pandemic has inflicted on refugees, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs, warned today.
refugees
The ‘quarantine ships’ experience: a practice to isolate migrants
Among the actions taken by the Italian government to manage the arrival of migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic were the so-called ‘quarantine ships’ (former passenger ferries). The first experiment took place on the Rubattino where, between 17 April and 5 May 2020, 183 people were hosted.
Refugee women and children in refugee-led homes during COVID-19
COVID-19 has not affected all communities equally, and within the United States, racial and ethnic minority groups have been disproportionately affected by the virus. Reports indicate that immigrants and refugees, who constitute a large portion of the minority frontline workforce in healthcare, agriculture, and food supply chain industry, are at a higher risk of exposure to the virus.
Three basic steps to mainstream gender equality across integration policies
We hate to admit it, but we look at the world through gendered lenses. Women refugee and asylum seekers often deal with a triple disadvantage: immigration status, refugee status and gender.
Despite migration restrictions after the ‘refugee crisis’, Sweden’s integration policies are still favourable
Sayaka Osamani Törngren and Henrik Emilsson (of the GLIMER project’s Sweden team) have published a second national report on Sweden as part of the National Integration Evaluation Mechanism (NIEM) project. NIEM is a six-years long, transnational project supporting key actors in the integration field to improve the integration outcomes of beneficiaries of international protection.
Closing borders to refugees is not the answer
In recent weeks, according to the United Nations, at least 167 countries have either fully or partially closed their borders. These travel restrictions seem an important means to help contain the pandemic, but they are also proving to be a way for some countries to forfeit their asylum responsibilities.