People on the move, whether they are economic migrants or forcibly displaced persons such asylum seekers, refugees, and internally displaced persons, should be explicitly included in the responses to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (COVID-19). This global public health emergency brings into focus, and may exacerbate, the barriers to healthcare these populations face. Many migrant & refugee populations live in conditions where physical distancing and recommended hygiene measures are particularly challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic reveals the extent of marginalisation migrant & refugee populations face. We have developed a resource platform to encourage knowledge sharing across different regions globally and to highlight the need to include migrants and refugees in the COVID-19 response.
Lancet Migration Global Statement and Call to Action on COVID-19
Read our global statement ‘Leaving no one behind in the COVID-19 Pandemic: a call for urgent global action to include migrants in the COVID-19 response’
To join our Global Call to Action for urgent inclusion of migrants & refugees in the COVID-19 response enter your details below
Situational and Policy briefs
This series of situational and policy briefs summarises key practical and operational aspects of the COVID-19 response in relation to migrants and refugees. They include public health and policy recommendations and perspectives that build on the Lancet Migration Global Statement recommendations to ensure migrants and refugees: have access to healthcare; are included in prevention, preparedness and response; and are part of responsible and transparent public information strategies, during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are intended to be short briefs providing key information on particular migrant and refugee contexts and thematics, rather than fully comprehensive country or regional overviews. Situational and policy briefs have been authored by experts working in academia, operational, or clinical areas of migration and COVID-19, and are hosted on the Lancet Migration website. Situational and policy briefs represent the views of the authors. They are up to date at the time of writing, but will be updated by authors at intervals as feasible.
Resources & Guidance
International statements and guidance documents
Statements from UNCHR, the IRC, and a joint statement from OHCHR, IOM, UNHCR and WHO also call for the rights and health of migrants and refugees to be protected in the Covid-19 response.
Further statements supporting urgent action, can be accessed here:
The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants ‘The COVID-19 pandemic: we need urgent measures to
protect people and mend the cracks in our health, social protection and migration systems’
The Word Health Organisation, Regional Office for Europe, ‘Measures against COVID-19 need to include refugees and migrants’
The Migrant and Ethnic Health Section of EUPHA, ‘Reducing the impact of the coronavirus crisis on those ‘left behind’ – Disadvantaged Migrants and Ethnic Minorities (MEM)’
Operational guidance:
United Nations Network on Migration, Working group on alternatives to immigration detention: ‘COVID-19 & Immigration Detention: What Can Governments and Other Stakeholders Do?
COVID-19 Humanitarian Platform: This open-access web-based platform promotes the exchange of field-based COVID-19 program adaptations and innovations, facilitating learning among organizations in different sectors and contexts. A joint initiative by the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, the Health in Humanitarian Crises at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Geneva Centre of Education.
Webinar Series on COVID-19 and the health of migrants and refugees
July 15th 2020 – COVID-19 & the health of migrants, refugees and ethnic minorities
A panel discussion exploring perspectives from academia, policy and practice
Organised as part of University College London, Institute for Risk and Disaster
Reduction, 10th Annual Conference. Video recording of the webinar to be uploaded
shortly.
5th August at 17:00 BST (11:00 GM-5) COVID-19 and Migration in Latin America
Speakers from different countries and organisations across the region will offer
perspectives from academia, policy and practice. The webinar will be held in
Spanish. Please register for free at the link here: https://bit.ly/304geP1.
Migration and COVID-19 mailing list
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