The Refugee Brief, 31 March 2020
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"Immediate nationwide ceasefire" needed to counter COVID-19 in Syria. Syria's health ministry announced the country's second coronavirus-related death on Monday as UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen appealed for "a complete, immediate nationwide ceasefire" throughout the country to enable an all-out effort to counter the spread of the virus. He told the Security Council that Syria was at "high risk" of being unable to contain the pandemic, given the large scale of population movements, dangerously cramped conditions in camps for the internally displaced and a healthcare system degraded by years of conflict. The UN's relief chief, Mark Lowcock, said the 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Syria so far were likely "the tip of the iceberg" and that the virus could have a "devastating impact" on vulnerable communities across the country. Lowcock said the pandemic was further limiting the ability of aid agencies to reach affected communities even as humanitarian needs remained enormous, particularly in the north-west, where nearly three out of every 10 displaced children are already showing signs of stunting resulting from malnutrition.
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UNHCR details coronavirus response measures around the world. Although the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among refugees remains low, over 80 per cent of the world's refugees and nearly all internally displaced people live in low- or middle-income countries, many of which have weak health, water and sanitation systems. With many refugees living in densely populated camps or poor urban areas, health experts and aid agencies have been warning that they risk being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi today said that prevention was of paramount importance in such locations. The agency outlined some of the measures it is taking, from temperature screening at the entrance to camps in Jordan to installing handwashing stations at camps in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burkina Faso. In Bangladesh, UNHCR is supporting the government to create new isolation and treatment facilities for refugees and host communities, and in Greece it is supporting authorities to increase water and sanitation capacity. Grandi said the crisis had already had significant consequences for UNHCR's operations, forcing the agency to "rapidly adjust the way we work". The top priority, he added, was to ensure refugees are included in response plans and are properly informed.
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Greece arbitrarily detaining migrants and asylum-seekers, says rights group. Human Rights Watch today accused Greek authorities of arbitrarily detaining nearly 2,000 recently arrived migrants and asylum-seekers in two new sites on the Greek mainland where they have been denied the right to lodge asylum claims and kept in "unacceptable conditions". Four men detained at the Malakassa site described conditions there as crowded and unsanitary. On 26 March, the Greek parliament ratified a 1 March government decree suspending access to asylum for 30 days for people who enter the country irregularly. UNHCR has previously noted that neither the 1951 Refugee Convention nor the EU refugee law provide any legal basis for suspending asylum applications. |
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Cyprus accused of pushing back Syrian asylum-seekers at sea. Al Jazeera reports that Cypriot authorities blocked an overcrowded boat carrying 175 Syrian asylum-seekers from entering Cyprus because of the coronavirus. The incident occurred on 20 March, when the boat was intercepted by several Cypriot patrol vessels as it approached the coast of Cape Greco. A police translator informed the passengers in Arabic that they could not enter Cyprus and would have to turn back. Cyprus shut its borders for a period of two weeks on 15 March. After a standoff of several hours, the boat, which had begun its journey in southern Turkey, turned and headed for the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The fate of the group, which includes 69 children, is now uncertain as Northern Cyprus lacks an asylum system. |
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Coronavirus looms over fragile Afghan health system. Afghanistan has so far reported 123 COVID-19 cases and four deaths, but officials believe the real number could be much higher. Since late February, more than 100,000 Afghans have returned home from Iran, where the virus has infected over 30,000 people and many Afghan workers have lost their jobs. The Guardian reports that years of conflict have depleted the health system and left it ill-equipped to fight the pandemic. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the Taliban has continued to launch attacks in the past week, despite calls for a ceasefire to slow the spread of the coronavirus. |
As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in Italy, one organization founded by a former refugee is helping newly arrived refugees in the city of Turin. Mosaico Action for Refugees is delivering food, diapers, cleaning products and other items to refugees forced to remain indoors during the lockdown. |
More than 2,000 refugee volunteers are working with community and religious leaders in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh to communicate coronavirus prevention messages. |
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