Policy Press
9 Protecting Refugee Health and Human Rights in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
According to the 2020 annual Global Trends report of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), an unprecedented 79.5 million people (1 percent of humanity or one in every 97 people), was displaced, to another country or elsewhere in their country, by conflict, persecution, or events seriously disturbing public order in 2019. The report also demonstrated that the growth of the problem has outstripped solutions, as few of those displaced are able to return to their home country. In the 1990s, an average of 1.5 million refugees were able to return home each year while over the past decade that number has fallen to around 385,000, an indication that refugee status has become a persistent social problem that is becoming exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic-related international travel restrictions. Recent reports by UNHCR, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the UN Secretary-General António Guterres have observed that forced migrants encounter crowded conditions where healthcare, water, and sanitation are often hard to find, and noted that because it is impossible to maintain physical distancing, refugees and asylum-seekers may be especially vulnerable given that COVID-19 is a health crisis.
The current refugee laws and policies arose from situations following World War II and the refugee crises of the interwar years preceding it.
Abstract
According to the 2020 annual Global Trends report of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), an unprecedented 79.5 million people (1 percent of humanity or one in every 97 people), was displaced, to another country or elsewhere in their country, by conflict, persecution, or events seriously disturbing public order in 2019. The report also demonstrated that the growth of the problem has outstripped solutions, as few of those displaced are able to return to their home country. In the 1990s, an average of 1.5 million refugees were able to return home each year while over the past decade that number has fallen to around 385,000, an indication that refugee status has become a persistent social problem that is becoming exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic-related international travel restrictions. Recent reports by UNHCR, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the UN Secretary-General António Guterres have observed that forced migrants encounter crowded conditions where healthcare, water, and sanitation are often hard to find, and noted that because it is impossible to maintain physical distancing, refugees and asylum-seekers may be especially vulnerable given that COVID-19 is a health crisis.
The current refugee laws and policies arose from situations following World War II and the refugee crises of the interwar years preceding it.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgments v
- Presidential Welcome vii
- Editorial Introduction 1
- Isolation, Economic Desperation, and Exploitation 5
- Uncertainty and Disruption in the Transition to Adulthood during COVID-19 15
- Disability Rights and Healthcare Rationing during COVID-19 27
- Social-Distancing the Settler-State 39
- The Pandemic and the Invisible Poor of the Global South 51
- The Human Right to Water and Sanitation in the Age of COVID-19 61
- Pandemic Perils of Migrant Workers 73
- Food Insecurity and COVID-19 87
- Protecting Refugee Health and Human Rights in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic 99
- COVID-19 Requires an Intersectional Feminist Policy Response 111
- Think Piece 123
- Afterword 133
- Index 143
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Acknowledgments v
- Presidential Welcome vii
- Editorial Introduction 1
- Isolation, Economic Desperation, and Exploitation 5
- Uncertainty and Disruption in the Transition to Adulthood during COVID-19 15
- Disability Rights and Healthcare Rationing during COVID-19 27
- Social-Distancing the Settler-State 39
- The Pandemic and the Invisible Poor of the Global South 51
- The Human Right to Water and Sanitation in the Age of COVID-19 61
- Pandemic Perils of Migrant Workers 73
- Food Insecurity and COVID-19 87
- Protecting Refugee Health and Human Rights in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic 99
- COVID-19 Requires an Intersectional Feminist Policy Response 111
- Think Piece 123
- Afterword 133
- Index 143
