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March 14 2020
The Greek government has being using the pandemic as an excuse to mistreat and abuse asylum seekers and refugees, expelling at least 250 since March of 2020.

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Report: Greek police using pandemic as cover to expel asylum seekers

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A view of the tents of asylum seekers near the border between the Kastanies and the Pazarkule border gates, as they continue to wait in hopes that Greece will open the gates on March 14, 2020 in Turkey's northwestern Edirne province. (Gökhan Balcı / AA)

Greek police are forcefully expelling asylum seekers into Turkey and are using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover for their abuses, according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal.

The report, based on evidence from asylum seekers who faced violence as well as lawyers and human-rights activists, said "at least 250 asylum seekers have been forcibly expelled from Greece since late March."

These are asylum seekers who had been living deep within Greece.

Simon Campbell, the field coordinator of Border Violence Monitoring Network, told the Wall Street Journal that he believes the real number is bigger than the cases reported and said "many migrants who are sent to Turkey don't speak out."

While Greek authorities have denied reports of extrajudicial deportations, they failed to respond to the Wall Street Journal's questions regarding the allegations by migrants and human rights groups.

Dimitris Koros, a lawyer with the Greek Council for Refugees, defined the Greek treatment against the asylum seekers as an "illegal pushback" and not "a deportation."

"It's illegal according to the Geneva convention and Greek law," Koros said.

With efforts to continue on legal ground, Koros and his group compiled testimonies from at least 10 migrants with Afghan, Pakistani, North African, Syrian and Iraqi nationalities, who recently faced forced deportation from deep inside Greece.

Underscoring that the "Greek police are targeting migrants and refugees who haven't officially filed an asylum claim," Koros said even without the official file, the Greek law allows the asylum seekers to stay in the country for 30 days if they express an intention to apply for asylum and cannot be deported without due process.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the migrants' testimonies compiled by the Greek Council for Refugees said additionally that "taking people from refugee camps, the Greek police have also deported migrants from a closed detention centre, promising them freedom but instead driving them to the Turkish border."

Human rights activists accuse Greece of using the pandemic to cover up its abuse of asylum seekers pic.twitter.com/BWysuxm9J7
- TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) May 21, 2020
Pandemic used as cover for abuses
Koros told the US daily that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic paves the way for Greek police to abuse asylum seekers.

Besides Koros, Nadia Hardman, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, also told the WSJ, "Under the cover of a global pandemic it is obviously easier to get away with particular human rights abuses when the attention of the world is elsewhere."

The HRW report published in March pointed out Greek authorities' violent acts against the asylum seekers trying to cross the border, "including assaulting them, taking personal property and stripping them to their underwear before sending them back into Turkey."

Though the Greek government refused to comment on the rights group's report, it further noted that the Greek security as well as unidentified armed men were carrying out the illegal pushbacks via violent methods.

The HRW's Hardman, who investigates and reports on human rights abuses, said in the report, "You just have a complete breakdown in the rule of law."

Wall Street Journal reports that Greek police are rounding up migrants and forcing them into Turkey without allowing them to seek asylum. Human Rights Watch's Nadia Hardman has more pic.twitter.com/adqRPKjbV1
- TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) May 21, 2020

One of the asylum seekers, Khalid Hassede, a 35-year-old Syrian, told the WSJ that he and his extended family "arrived by raft on the Greek island of Symi on March 21" and "were held by Greek police at the port for three days, rather than being taken to the island's refugee camp."

Hassede said his family along with at least 24 other Syrian asylum seekers were "told to board a Greek coast guard boat and informed that they would be taken to Athens to begin their asylum applications."

"Instead, the boat took them back into Turkish waters, and they were forced to board an inflatable raft and left to drift in the sea. They were eventually rescued by Turkish coast guards and taken back to Turkey."

Mohamad Ali Ahmadzai, a 20-year-old Afghan man who was also forcibly expelled, said he "saw Greek police give the smugglers cash to take 45 people across the river in two boats."

Albani Mohmed, an asylum seeker from Morocco, said he was stopped by Greek police in Thessaloniki in April.

After he was stopped by the Greek police, Mohmed, 25, was taken to the police station "where he said he was beaten and had his cash and cellphone confiscated. Then he was put in a cell overnight with three Afghan migrants."

According to the Wall Street Journal, Mohmed said, "They [the Greek police] threw us to Turkey without our clothes except for our underwear ... They kept hitting us and told us never to return."

Turkey has been one of the main routes for asylum seekers wanting to reach Europe, especially since the Syrian civil war started in 2011.

The country hosts nearly four million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world.

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Report: Greek police using pandemic as cover to expel asylum seekers

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Greek police are forcefully expelling asylum seekers into Turkey and are using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover for their abuses, according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal. The report, based on evidence from asylum seekers who faced violence as well as lawyers and human-rights activists, said "at least 250 asylum seekers have been forcibly expelled from Greece since late March."

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Data breach puts hundreds of Asylum Seekers at risk

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Data breach puts hundreds of Asylum Seekers at risk

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March 2020
The federal court of Australia reported numerous data breaches during March 2020 to their database resulting in the publishing of hundreds of names of individuals applying for protection visas in Australia. A spokesperson for the court labeled the incident "a major systematic failure" and outlined the measures the court is taking to rectify the situation. This breach puts the safety of hundreds of individuals at risk as their personal information and circumstances were all available to view online, meaning that people from their past can now locate and potentially harm them if they ever return to their country of origin. These breaches highlights the growing complexities and obstacles Refugees and Asylum seekers face when they are simply exercising their rights.

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The names of hundreds of people seeking protection visas have been published on the website of the Federal Court in a catastrophic data breach that potentially puts asylum seekers at risk of harm.

The Federal Court published the names of people who said they had been persecuted in their home countries, potentially putting them at risk

The disclosure is a breach of the migration act

A spokesperson for the Federal Court described it as "major systemic failure"

The ABC has confirmed that for years, the Federal Court, through the searchable Commonwealth Courts database, has disclosed the names of people who have said they have been persecuted in their home countries.

In a statement, a Federal Court spokesman described the disclosure as a "major systemic failure" and said the court had identified 400 asylum seekers, so far, whose names had been published.

The spokesman also admitted it was an offence under Commonwealth legislation for the court to publish the names of protection visa seekers.

A day after the ABC raised the issue, the Federal Court disabled the search function on the database. The court then put the database back on online, but took it down again after being told by the ABC that names were still viewable.

Migration lawyer Daniel Taylor, who has acted for a number of people seeking protection visas, said he had clients who had been put at risk by the breach.

"[Authorities in foreign countries] can very well read in English, and they can read those names and they can identify the dates of birth and they can identify the claims," Mr Taylor.

"Then they can match that information together with their own information, and they can put together a damning case against any number of these identified refugees and inflict serious harm on them if they come back to their country of origin."

Federal Court was warned of breach years ago

A Federal Court spokesperson described the disclosure as a "major systemic failure".(ABC News: Darryl Torpy)

Mr Taylor said he has repeatedly drawn the attention of the court to the data breach in individual cases, but the Federal Court failed to grasp the systemic nature of the problem and, as consequence, did not act to fix the problem.

Two weeks ago, Mr Taylor also wrote to the Federal Attorney-General, Christian Porter, to warn him of the data breach, but he said he received no reply.

"Over a few years, I've been raising this issue with the courts on a case-by-case basis, with varying levels of success, but more recently I've been writing to the court in every case that I'm finding," Mr Taylor said.

"But what actually needs to happen is that there's a fundamental problem with the whole system, and all the people whose names or identities have been published in connection with their claims for protection, those people need to be notified and warned that this has occurred so in the event that they go back or are sent back to their country of origin they're ready for what's going to come to them."

Real names listed next to pseudonyms

In the publicly available Commonwealth Courts searchable database, the files of people who have applied for protection visas are listed by pseudonyms, which are usually a collection of letters and numbers.

But in a separate column, the full names of at least some of those applicants were also listed.

Names of people seeking protection were published in the portal's "Name" column, even when the individual was given an alias in other fields.(Supplied)

The ABC found instances of protection visa seekers from China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Egypt and a number of Middle Eastern countries whose full names had been disclosed.

In one case, an Egyptian man who arrived in Australia by boat made an application for a Safe Haven Enterprise visa on the grounds that he was a Shia Muslim at risk of persecution by the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood organisation in Egypt.

The application was denied by Immigration authorities and an appeal by the man was subsequently rejected by Judge Sandy Street of the Federal Circuit Court.

The man's full name was published next to the file number on the Commonwealth Courts database.

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In another case, a Chinese man applied for a protection visa on the grounds that he blew the whistle on corruption within the company he worked for in China.

The application was rejected and the Federal Circuit Court subsequently dismissed an appeal by the man, but his full name was published on the Commonwealth Courts website.

In a third case, a Vietnamese man applied for a Safe Haven Enterprise visa after arriving in Australia by boat, saying he was a Catholic and a member of a banned anti-communist political party in Vietnam.

His application was rejected and an appeal was subsequently also dismissed by the Federal Circuit Court, but the man's full name was published on the Commonwealth Courts database.

Asylum seekers to be contacted 'where possible'

Names of protection visa applicants were public even after their applications were rejected.(Supplied)

In 2014, a huge data breach occurred when the personal details of more than 9,200 asylum seekers were published on the website of the then Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

According to Mary Crock, a professor of public law at the University of Sydney and an accredited specialist in immigration law, what happened in the wake of that earlier data breach means asylum seekers are unlikely to be able to find out whether unfriendly governments in their home countries have accessed their details.

"It went to the High Court and unfortunately the High Court ruled that although Home Affairs had commissioned KPMG to examine what had happened, that the actual detainees were not entitled to know chapter and verse about whether their particular records had been accessed," Professor Crock said.

"I think a lot depends on how the Federal Court responds to this, but the law, at the moment, is not particularly helpful to individual asylum seekers whose records may have been accessed."

In its statement, the Federal Court told the ABC it would contact asylum seekers whose names were published, or their lawyers, "where possible", but it made no comment about whether it would tell the asylum seekers if their names had actually been viewed online and by whom.

Professor Crock also said asylum seekers needed ministerial permission to apply a second time for protection visas even if their circumstances, such as their names being published on the Federal Court website, changed while they were living in Australia.

"You can make a submission to the Minister saying 'my identity has been disclosed and therefore I am particularly at risk from my home government' but you've got to convince the Minister to do that basically off grid, so to speak," Professor Crock said.

"The Minister is not obliged to consider your application at all and unfortunately the current behaviour of our ministers suggests they are not open to that."

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Hundreds of asylum seekers' names made public in government data breach

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The names of hundreds of people seeking protection visas have been published on the website of the Federal Court in a catastrophic data breach that potentially puts asylum seekers at risk of harm.

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Greece is relocating Asylum seekers to mainland as preventative measure against COVID-19

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Greece is relocating Asylum seekers to mainland as preventative measure against COVID-19

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March 20, 2020
The greek government passed legislation at the beginning of March to deal with the current overcrowded conditions and also as a preventative measure against the coronavirus within overcrowded refugee camps. Since March 20, over 600 refugees and asylum seekers have been transferred to mainland Greece from the island Lesbos where the Moria refugee camp is located. The Moria camp hosts around 19,000 refugees which is over six times its capacity. The cramped living conditions paired with a lack of resources and proper hygiene, create a potentially disastrous environment for COVID-19 to wreak havoc upon already vulnerable individuals.

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Hundreds of asylum seekers are on the way to mainland Greece from a refugee camp in Lesbos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea.

The migrants are travelling by ferry and should arrive at Athen's Piraeus port tomorrow morning.

This is the first massive transfer of asylum seekers from the overcrowded Moria camp since the start of confinement imposed by the Greek government on March 23 amid the Covid-19 crisis.

The last massive transfer took place on March 20 with about 600 people involved.

In addition to the 392 people leaving Lesbos today, 2,000 others are set to be gradually transferred to mainland Greece in the coming weeks.

Greece dealing with critical situation in Aegean refugee camps

Greece has been dealing with a critical overcrowding situation in its Aegen Islands' refugee camps, which led to poor sanitary conditions and episodes of violence.

While the camps have around 6,200 places in total, almost 37,000 refugees are being hosted.

Lebos' Moria Camp, nicknamed "the jungle" hosts about 19,000 refugees, more than six times its capacity.

Many NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, have called on the Greek government to act "immediately" to ease pressure on the camps.

The country announced in February the construction of new camps to accommodate 20,000 asylum seekers, who will be limited to a three-month stay.

In the first quarter of 2020, about 10,000 migrants left the islands for the mainland, according to Greece's Minister of Migration and Asylum Notis Mitarachi.

He went to Lesbos on Sunday to inaugurate a medical center in Moria camp, which is supposed to carry out screening tests for asylum seekers.

Covid-19 cases were identified in two camps and a migrant hotel on the mainland, with 150 people tested positive.

However, no cases have been reported from camps on the islands so far.

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Greece transfers almost 400 migrants from Lesbos island to mainland

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Hundreds of asylum seekers are on the way to mainland Greece from a refugee camp in Lesbos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The migrants are travelling by ferry and should arrive at Athen's Piraeus port tomorrow morning.

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Turkish coast guard rescues 72 asylum seekers from Aegean Sea

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Turkish coast guard rescues 72 asylum seekers from Aegean Sea

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March 25, 2020

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Turkish coast guard rescues 72 asylum seekers from Aegean Sea

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Turkish coast guards rescued 34 refugees from Afghanistan, 18 Congo, 12 Africa, 6 Guinea and 2 Pakistani nationals, including women and children. (Republic of Turkey Ministry of Interior Turkish Coast Guard Command / AA)

Turkish Coast Guard teams rescued at least 72 asylum seekers Monday from four boats in the Aegean Sea.

Acting on a tip-off, the rescue team reached out to the asylum seekers, who were on board inflatable boats that were forced into Turkish territorial waters by the Greek Coast Guard.

The asylum seekers, including Afghans, Congolese, Guineans and Pakistanis, were rescued off the coast of Foca in Izmir province.

They were taken to the provincial migration office.

Following formal procedures asylum seekers were sent to Turkey's Provincial Directorate of Migration Management in country's Aegean province of Izmir. (Republic of Turkey Ministry of Interior Turkish Coast Guard Command / AA)

Turkey has been one of the main routes for asylum seekers wanting to reach Europe, especially since Syria's civil war started in 2011.

Turkey hosts nearly four million Syrians, more than any other country in the world.

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Turkish coast guard rescues 72 asylum seekers from Aegean Sea

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Turkish Coast Guard teams rescued at least 72 asylum seekers Monday from four boats in the Aegean Sea. Acting on a tip-off, the rescue team reached out to the asylum seekers, who were on board inflatable boats that were forced into Turkish territorial waters by the Greek Coast Guard.

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Refugees left to die as COVID-19 spreads across Greece

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Refugees left to die as COVID-19 spreads across Greece

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April 07, 2020
Citizens of Greece have been forced to flee their home country as Covid-19 begins to threaten their health.

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Refugees left to die as COVID-19 spreads across Greece

By George Gallanis
7 April 2020

Nearly 42,000 refugees housed in overcrowded, festering detention camps remain trapped on Greece's islands as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across Greece. With refugees lacking access to soap and water-as part of a lack of basic health care-and crammed into clustered living quarters, the camps on the islands Lesbos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros are the perfect breeding grounds for the virus.

Yet, the right-wing New Democracy (ND) government has stalled moving refugees off the islands to mainland Greece, allowing for the virus to infect and possibly kill thousands.

The COVID-19 death toll in Greece rose to 73 yesterday, with total confirmed cases standing at 1,735. According the daily Kathimerini, the economic strain caused by the pandemic may lead to cuts in workers' wages in the public sector, and possibly massive unemployment in the coming weeks or months, while Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said recently that "no such issue is being discussed given that we expect a return to normality soon."

Syrian boat refugees from Turkey arriving on Lesbos, Greece, September 2015 (AP Photo / Petros Giannakouris)

Greece's health care system can barely keep up with the required amount of testing needed to contain the virus, let alone treat those infected. Years of European Union (EU) austerity, enforced by the previous pseudo-left Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) government, have gutted Greece's public health care.

Attempting to wipe its hands clean of the growing social disaster, Alexis Charitsis, a Syriza representative, accused ND of "insisting on focusing its rhetoric entirely on the citizens' personal responsibility" and it "cannot and should not overshadow the government's responsibility to immediately support the health system." He added that the "sloppiness, ineffectiveness and interventions" are "clearly an issue of political will."

Syriza laid the groundwork for ND's anti-refugee policies with a brutal campaign including attacks by riot police, forced evacuations and the establishment of concentration camps. In 2016, the EU, Turkey and the Syriza government brokered a deal establishing Greece as the EU's prison camp for refugees at its southern border. It then forced all refugees entering Greece via "irregular" routes-those making the dangerous journey via boat from Turkey to Greece-to be deported back to Turkey. In other words, most refugees.

The ND government is continuing and building upon these anti-refugee policies. Refugees have been shot at by Greek police and been the victims of fascistic violence, while the government allows the continued practice of illegal pushbacks where refugee boats are forced back as they approach the Greek shoreline.

The government is using the limited number of COVID-19 tests and the growing threat of the virus on Greece's native-born population as a reason to leave refugees trapped in a hell in which the pandemic can spread like wildfire in the camps. Hundreds or even thousands of refugees, including children and the elderly, may die.

The pandemic has already made its way to Greece's islands. On Lesbos-where some 20,000 people live in and around the notorious Moria detention camp designed to house 3,000-a 40-year-old woman returning from holidays in Egypt and Israel was confirmed positive for COVID-19 over two weeks ago and was placed in quarantine.

The limited amount of testing in Greece points to a very real possibility that COVID-19 is spreading undetected on Lesbos and other islands. This poses a looming nightmare for those housed in refugee camps. It could easily be spread by new arrivals who could also receive the virus from asymptomatic detainees. A lack of space means 120 people who recently arrived on Lesbos have not yet found shelter on the island as they have to be placed into separate shacks from those already present.

Last week, it was revealed 20 refugees tested positive for COVID-19 at the mainland camp of Ritsona, home to 2,300 refugees and 43 miles north of Athens. The camp is now on lockdown for two weeks, with police on hand to enforce the action and prepare the way for possible attacks on refugees.

Tests are being administered and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is onsite tending to refugees. On Sunday, the government was forced to place a second migrant camp on the mainland under quarantine. After a 53-year-old man tested positive for coronavirus, the Malakasa camp 25 miles north of Athens was locked down for two weeks and is also being guarded by police with reinforcements to arrive.

Ritsona and Malakasa have the benefit of being on the mainland, putting them closer to much needed resources in Greece's major cities like Athens, as opposed to camps located on the islands. Nonetheless, with so many refugees forced to live in packed quarters, the camps face the possibility of a rapid outbreak.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson has requested the ND government move refugees with the highest risk of contracting COVID-19-the elderly and children-from the overcrowded island camps to mainland Greece.

"We are working together with the Greek government and the Greek authorities to agree on an emergency plan to help reduce the risk as much as possible in the overcrowded hotspots on the islands," Johansen said. "It could be relocation of the most vulnerable individuals from the overcrowded camps to other areas on the islands."

But as many NGOs and refugee groups have said, there are virtually no tests available for refugees and therefore it is nearly impossible to determine who in the camps may be positive for the virus.

The ND government is stalling, putting at risk thousands of refugees.

For the past few weeks, human rights groups have urgently called upon ND to act. One group said, "Thousands of people, including older people, those with chronic diseases, children ... pregnant women, new mothers, and people with disabilities, are trapped in dangerously overcrowded, deplorable conditions on the islands amid the COVID-19 pandemic."

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said over three weeks ago. "We must act now. ... When the virus hits overcrowded settlements in places like Iran, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Greece, the consequences will be devastating."

The conditions in the camps make it nearly impossible for refugees to protect themselves from an outbreak.

George Makris, a medical doctor and a coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in Greece, said the water and sanitary conditions in the Moria camp on Lesbos and others are "tragic." He added: "The transmission of the virus cannot be contained there. We have warned this repeatedly in the past in the context of other infectious disease outbreaks like meningitis and measles. Our message is simple. ... As health authorities are saying all mass gatherings are prohibited, mass containment should also be avoided."

Gerald Knaus, one of the leading architects of the 2016 deal between the EU, Greece and Turkey, which resulted in thousands of refugees being forcibly returned to Turkey, said refugees could be moved to safety in a matter of weeks.

Speaking to DW.com as the devastating human toll of his policies becomes ever more apparent with the pandemic, Knaus said, "You have to evacuate 35,000 refugees as quickly as possible from the islands to the Greek mainland. You could quickly have 15,000 additional beds in temporary tent camps. The International Organization of Migration (IOM) is capable of building these within a few weeks.

"Another 10,000 people can be accommodated in now-vacant Greek hotels. Finally, 10,000 people could easily be accommodated in places already paid for by the EU-places where recognized refugees are hosted right now. If countries like Germany could take in these recognized refugees quickly, they would create space for families from the islands immediately. This would also send a strong signal to the Greeks that they're not alone."

The reality is that Germany, the EU's leading power, has played a critical role in the formation of the bloc's refugee policy and bears central responsibility for the terrible plight facing refugees and immigrants imprisoned on the Greek islands.

The role of the EU, ND, Syriza and capitalist government across the world in facilitating attacks on refugees and allowing COVID-19 to spread uncontrolled makes clear the urgent need for the working class to intervene and place life over profit.

The spread of COVID-19 in Greece has been grossly exacerbated but the socioeconomic policies of ND and Syriza. The defence of refugees in Greece must be taken up by the Greek and the international working class, in opposition to the policies of ND and Syriza who represent the interests of the upper middle class and the financial elite.
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Coronavirus transforms Greek refugee camps into death camps
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How to fight the COVID-19 pandemic: A program of action for the working class
[17 March 2020]

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Refugees left to die as COVID-19 spreads across Greece

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By George Gallanis 7 April 2020 Nearly 42,000 refugees housed in overcrowded, festering detention camps remain trapped on Greece's islands as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across Greece. With refugees lacking access to soap and water-as part of a lack of basic health care-and crammed into clustered living quarters, the camps on the islands Lesbos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros are the perfect breeding grounds for the virus.

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Refugees tell stories of problems – and unity – in facing the coronavirus

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Refugees tell stories of problems – and unity – in facing the coronavirus

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April 30, 2020
Since the Corona Virus pandemic became a matter for national concern, minorities including refugees and asylum seekers have been ignored, this article shares their tough conditions and experiences during the pandemic in particular.

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Across the globe, refugees are trying to settle into new surroundings and are running into new challenges thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

But too often news coverage of refugee issues doesn't include the people's own voices. We coordinate the Refugees in Towns project, which is a network of refugee researchers and humanitarian workers who we train to conduct research and then write about their experiences in the cities where they live.

We asked members of our network to tell us how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting their lives. Here are dispatches from South Africa, Serbia, Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, Denmark and Jordan, written by our refugee researchers and aid workers.

Denmark
Denmark hosts 39,000 refugees and asylum seekers, from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Somalia. Abdullah, a Syrian refugee in Aarhus, wrote:
The Ministry of Health has published fliers and educational videos in multiple languages to help refugees understand the new rules (ed: about the coronavirus). The Danish Refugee Council used Facebook to help refugee students with their homework by matching them with local volunteers. Refugees took initiatives ... through social media groups created to translate information, news and new rules.

Refugee parents with kids in school experience new challenges with remote teaching, and try to use the (refugee council) groups to help. My friend Reem told me about her difficulties communicating with her daughter's school through the school app because it is in Danish.

The refugees and the Danes say the coronavirus crisis is creating a kind of unity among people. It shows how the world is interconnected and everybody learns lessons about taking care of each other.

Zimbabwe
In recent years, some of the people who fled Zimbabwe during then-President Mugabe's dictatorship have begun returning. But the economy, power supply and health care system are all in desperate straits. Tash came back to "Zim" 17 years after her family was forced to leave their farm during Mugabe's expulsions of white farmers. She wrote from Harare:
Zim has been in lockdown now for three weeks and only critical industries like food stores and farming are allowed to operate. The government is applying the rules to both formal and informal sectors, which is a relief. Many people are concerned about our dilapidated health system, but I think we could prevent a major outbreak if people continue to take the lockdown seriously - which they have been doing, amazingly. Social media has reached the rural population.

Perhaps because our economy is so broken, shutting down has not had such a big impact. Our private sector is good at self-regulating and caring for their employees. Many businesses gave hand sanitizer and masks to their workers and some even closed before the lockdown so their staff wouldn't have to risk travel on public transport. Businesses and money transfers don't require physical transactions - things continue through WhatsApp. If anything, the shutdown has made life easier, with less pressure on ZESA (Zimbabwe Electrical Supply Company), we have had power all week!

Most people don't have the means to panic-buy so the shops are still in good stock. People don't stress about finding fuel (we are only allowed within 5 km radius; the police check and arrest people who go beyond) and many people are walking as they have the time. However, I feel removed living in the "suburbs" with a pantry full of food.

Serbia
Serbia has almost 9,000 refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are seeking to move deeper into Europe but are stuck in Serbia. Our Serbian researcher, Teodora, wrote from Belgrade, with a description of how aid organizations, known as NGOs, stopped working after the pandemic began:
Almost all humanitarian NGOs withdrew from the field, the Commissariat and one NGO in Belgrade are the only ones working. MSF (Doctors Without Borders) have also withdrawn - they were providing showers and laundry for migrants who live outside reception centers. Migrants in reception centers have water and soap, but not gloves and masks (except what they sew themselves). Lots of people live in a same room (up to 10). They are completely isolated and not able to go anywhere. There are often demonstrations and sometimes violent protests organized by migrants in reception centers. They don't understand that Serbian people are in quarantine too, and the shops are closed. So, they are angry, thinking that they are simply victims of racism (which is not completely untrue).

Canada
Canada has resettled thousands of Syrian refugees. One of them, Noor, reflected on what the pandemic and lockdown is like for refugees living with past trauma and psychosocial problems:
It's not like the war; the war was easier. When we were in Syria, we knew where the attacks would be, and we could move or hide. Not with a virus ... We can't see it. We don't know where the danger is. During the war we didn't isolate (ourselves).

South Africa
South Africa hosts almost 273,000 refugees and asylum seekers from different African countries, including Zimbabwe, Somalia and Eritrea. Barnabas, a Zimbabwean university student living in Makhanda, wrote:
The best decision I made this year was to move out of the university residence. When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced South Africa's lockdown the university administration ordered those in residence to vacate in less than 24 hours. International students were ordered to leave even though there were hardly any flights and some countries were already under lockdown. There was panicking and anxiety among us, even though we were eventually allowed to stay.

AP/Nardus Engelbrecht

Since the lockdown, I have remained holed up at my place. Videos of soldiers and the police kicking those who have dared to walk on the streets during the lockdown have been circulating on social media. As an immigrant, I would not want to be on the streets.

Many immigrants work as Uber drivers and waiters, but Uber service is barred, and those depending on tips have no income. Most spaza shop (an informal convenience store) operators in the townships are Somalis and Ethiopians. However, when the Minister of Small Business Development announced which shops should remain open, it was only shops owned by South African nationals, and only they would be compensated for losses. That means immigrants will struggle to raise money to rent the premises they occupy in townships.

It's interesting how unity has emerged among Zimbabweans here. They are usually a divided community, but now they are mobilizing resources using social media groups like 'Zimbabweans in Cape Town' and helping each other buy food and pay rent.

Costa Rica
Costa Rica officially has 37,000 refugees and asylum seekers, but so-called "irregular migrants," many from African countries, fly to a South American country, then travel north and transit Costa Rica en route to the U.S. On March 18, the government closed its borders and began enforcing strict controls. Michelle, an aid worker in San Jose, wrote:
I'm pretty annoyed with border controls and government double talk, it's obvious that when they close borders many migrants are going to transit through the blind spots. The president has ordered that any migrant resident that leaves the country in the next months will lose [their residence] condition, i.e. permission to be in the country.

Getty/Ezequiel Becerra / AFP

As of March 22, the migration police have deported 511 migrants across the northern border with Nicaragua. At the southern border with Panama, the government accepted 2,600 African and Haitian migrants and took them to a detention center in the north, because Costa Rican authorities apparently could not contain the flow.

Jordan
Jordan hosts some 745,000 mostly Syrian refugees. This is a high number, but not as high as Lebanon, which hosts some 1.5 million Syrian refugees. More than 80% live outside refugee camps, in Jordan's towns and cities. Ruby, a Jordanian aid worker in Amman, writes:
Prices of essential items have increased with serious consequences for both refugees and poor Jordanians. The Jordanian government has set price ceilings for essential goods like groceries and announced penalties for noncompliance. Some landlords show understanding and have accepted delaying rents for the current month. Some restaurant owners provide free meals for volunteer youth ... Students continue their education through the electronic platforms launched by the Ministry of Education, and through the private TV channel, but some Syrians struggle to pay for internet cards.

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Refugees tell stories of problems - and unity - in facing the coronavirus

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Across the globe, refugees are trying to settle into new surroundings and are running into new challenges thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. But too often news coverage of refugee issues doesn't include the people's own voices.

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South Africa's urgent appeal to the government to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers.

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South Africa's urgent appeal to the government to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers.

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May 12, 2020
Refugees and Asylum seekers have been excluded from all of their governments Covid-19 aid packages and programs.

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(Johannesburg) - The South African government's Covid-19 aid programs, including food parcels, have overlooked refugees and asylum seekers. They include many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people who fled to South Africa to escape persecution.

The government should take urgent steps to facilitate support, including from donors, for refugees and asylum seekers with little access to food and other basic necessities during the ongoing nationwide lockdown.

"The Ramaphosa administration should either ensure access to food for thousands of refugees and asylum seekers, or say that it can't meet the need and seek donors to step in and provide assistance," said Dewa Mavhinga, southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The government is ignoring the plight of refugees and asylum seekers currently confined in their homes and unable to work to provide for themselves."

Undocumented migrants and asylum seekers live on the economic margins, a situation exacerbated by the government's stringent lockdown measures. After receiving numerous pleas from refugees and asylum seekers, Human Rights Watch raised the issue with the South African Human Rights Commission, which confirmed receiving similar reports and pressed the authorities to ensure that everyone in South Africa can realize their rights.

On May 12, 2020, the rapporteur for South Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Solomon Ayele Dersso, sent an urgent appeal to the government to protect the rights of vulnerable groups, including refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in the context of the lockdown.

South Africa is a common destination for LGBT people fleeing their home countries due to persecution on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression. The Refugees Amendment Act of 2008 expressly includes persecution on the basis of sexual orientation as a ground for seeking asylum in South Africa. Thirty-three out of the 70 countries that criminalize adult consensual same-sex conduct are in Africa. Across the continent, discriminatory laws and hostile social attitudes lead many LGBT people to flee their countries of origin - including many from Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, and Nigeria - and travel to South Africa, often against considerable odds, to seek asylum and a better life.

Victor Chikalogwe, director of the LGBT refugee advocacy group People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression, and Poverty (PASSOP), has said that the lockdown has made life incredibly difficult for many undocumented LGBT migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, as they are unable to work in the informal trades that have sustained them, including restaurants, bars, or sex work. They are not eligible to receive government social grants or food parcels, which are distributed only to those with South African identity cards and Social Security cards.

Thomars Shamuyarira, a transgender man from Zimbabwe who is the director of The Fruit Basket, a Johannesburg-based group that provides support to African LGBT migrants, said that the Covid-19 lockdown measures have had a severe impact on LGBT refugees and asylum seekers who do not have access to informal employment, food, medicine, and accommodation.

Human Rights watch spoke with a gay man from the Democratic Republic of Congo who fled to South Africa following a targeted attack on the basis of his sexual orientation by an armed group in South Kivu. He said he has tried unsuccessfully since 2014 to get refugee status and that the lockdown makes it even more difficult for him to survive from one day to the next.

A gay man who fled Zimbabwe in 2014 after his family members threatened to kill him when they discovered his sexual orientation said that he has been unable to do sex work due to the lockdown, therefore unable to pay rent or buy food.

On March 24, The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights expressed concern about the vulnerability of refugees and asylum seekers under Covid-19 regulations and addressed a letter to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who currently serves as African Union Chairperson, urging the South African government to adequately address human rights issues in its responses to Covid-19. This should include ensuring that undocumented refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa have access to basic services.

The South African authorities should ensure that essential goods and services are provided to everyone in need without discrimination, Human Rights Watch said. Special arrangements should be made to protect the rights of vulnerable groups, including refugees, asylum seekers, and the homeless, who may not normally have access to basic goods, including food, water - potable and washing - and health care.

The national lockdown will be most effective if carried out not only in accordance with the law, but also hand-in-hand with the fulfillment of the government's obligation to provide basic goods and services to vulnerable community members. Services should be available to all who are in need, including those living in areas under movement restrictions or under quarantine, those infected with Covid-19, and marginalized groups such as refugees, migrants, and people with disabilities. The government should take special measures to protect women and girls from physical and sexual abuse and exploitation and provide timely help to victims.

"South Africa should make special efforts to protect the most vulnerable in the country and ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are not overlooked or forgotten," Mavhinga said. "The authorities should act and seek donor support to avert an imminent humanitarian catastrophe."

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South Africa: End Bias in Covid-19 Food Aid

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(Johannesburg) - The South African government's Covid-19 aid programs, including food parcels, have overlooked refugees and asylum seekers. They include many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people who fled to South Africa to escape persecution.

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WHO and UNHCR join forces to improve health services for refugees

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WHO and UNHCR join forces to improve health services for refugees

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May 21 2020
The World Health Organisation and The United Nations Refugee Agency formed an agreement to advance the public health system around the world. This it to ensure that the less fortunate are able to have those essential resources such as food and clean water.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency today signed a new agreement to strengthen and advance public health services for the millions of forcibly displaced people around the world.

The agreement updates and expands an existing 1997 agreement between the two organizations. A key aim this year will be to support ongoing efforts to protect some 70 million forcibly displaced people from COVID-19. Around 26 million of these are refugees, 80 per cent of whom are sheltered in low and middle-income countries with weak health systems. Another 40 million internally displaced people also require assistance.

For more than 20 years, UNHCR and WHO have worked together worldwide to safeguard the health of some of the world's most vulnerable populations. They have collaborated to provide health services to refugees in every region - from the onset of an emergency and through protracted situations, consistently advocating for the inclusion of refugees and stateless people in the national public health plans of host countries.

Today, the two organizations are working side by side to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that forcibly displaced people can access the health services they need, to keep safe from COVID-19 and other health challenges.

"UNHCR's long-term partnership with WHO is critical to curb the coronavirus pandemic and other emergencies - day in, day out, it is improving and saving lives of millions of people forced to flee their homes," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. "Our strengthened partnership will directly benefit refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, and those who are stateless. It leads to better emergency response and will make the best use of the resources of both our two organizations for public health solutions across all our operations globally."

"The principle of solidarity and the goal of serving vulnerable people underpin the work of both our organizations," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "We stand side by side in our commitment to protect the health of all people who have been forced to leave their homes and to ensure that they can obtain health services when and where they need them. The ongoing pandemic only highlights the vital importance of working together so we can achieve more."

During Thursday's signing UNHCR also joined the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The Fund was launched on 13 March and has so far raised $214m to date. The Fund, first-of-its-kind, allows individuals, companies, and organizations all over the world to directly contribute to the global response being led by WHO to help countries prevent, detect and respond to COVID-19.

A $10 million contribution from the Solidarity Response Fund will support UNHCR's work on urgent needs such as risk communication and community engagement around hygiene practices; provision of hygiene and medical supplies and the establishment of isolation units in countries such as Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, South Sudan and Uganda.The funds will also support innovative global preparedness activities.

"By joining forces with the Solidarity Response Fund, UNHCR can work together on the ground with WHO to better ensure that the preparedness, prevention and public health response measures to COVID-19 are in place and that much-needed aid can reach refugees, displaced people and their host communities," said Grandi.

For more information on UNHCR's COVID-19 operations

For information about WHO's COVID-19 operations and work on Refugee and Migrant Health
Solidarity Response Fund
The Fund was launched at WHO's request by the UN Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation in mid-March and it is only way for companies and individuals to contribute directly to the work of WHO and partners on the ground, and the fastest way to get resources where they are needed most urgently. More than $100m from the Fund has already been disbursed, ensuring early vital work in the long fight against the pandemic.
UNHCR
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, leads international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. We deliver life-saving assistance like shelter, food and water, help safeguard fundamental human rights, and develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality.

UNHCR is taking measures to help respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency and prevent further spread. Working together with governments, UNHCR ensures refugees are included in national health response plans and are well-informed on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, have access to soap and clean water, and continue to receive the life-saving aid and assistance they need.
The World Health Organization
The World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, WHO works with 194 Member States, across six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2023 is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and wellbeing.

For updates on COVID-19 and public health advice to protect yourself from coronavirus, visit www.who.int and follow WHO on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube

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WHO and UNHCR join forces to improve health services for refugees, displaced and stateless people

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The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency today signed a new agreement to strengthen and advance public health services for the millions of forcibly displaced people around the world.The agreement updates and expands an existing 1997 agreement between the two organizations.

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Hungary closing transit zones for asylum-seekers

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Hungary closing transit zones for asylum-seekers

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May 21, 2020
This article reports on Hungary closing transit zones for asylum-seekers. Hungary’s government said on Thursday that it is shutting down the transit zones on its southern border with Serbia where asylum-seekers are being kept while their asylum requests are decided. People will now have to present claims at Hungarian diplomatic missions.

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Hungary's government said on Thursday that it is shutting down the transit zones on its southern border with Serbia where asylum-seekers are being kept while their asylum requests are decided.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said that, as a result, some 280 asylum-seekers will be moved to reception centres in the country.

Gergely Gulyas also said that, in the future, those seeking to apply for asylum in Hungary will have to present their claims at Hungarian diplomatic missions.

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The government decision comes after the European Union 's top court last week ruled that holding asylum-seekers in Hungary's transit zones amounted to "detention" and said it was allowed for a maximum period of four weeks.

Hungary built fences protected by razor wire on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia and later a pair of transit zones on its border with Serbia in the wake of the 2015 migrant crisis, when some 400,000 people passed through Hungary on their way to Western Europe.

The measures were part of Orban's increasingly strict anti-immigration policies and the extreme minimisation of Hungary's asylum system.

The transit zones built from shipping containers were a frequent target for widespread criticism from domestic and international rights groups.

They objected, for example, to the small number of asylum-seekers allowed to file claims, the prison-like conditions faced by those kept in the transit zones - including families with small children - and Hungary's frequent decision not to provide food to adults whose initial asylum claims were rejected but who remained in the transit zones while their appeals were heard.

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Hungary closing transit zones for asylum-seekers

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Hungary's government said on Thursday that it is shutting down the transit zones on its southern border with Serbia where asylum-seekers are being kept while their asylum requests are decided. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said that, as a result, some 280 asylum-seekers will be moved to reception centres in the country.

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May 21, 2020
Despite the current travel bans placed in Australia in relations to COVID-19, asylum seekers and refugees have been resettled in the US after spending years in Australian offshore detentions centres.

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Dozens of refugees who have spent years in Australia's offshore processing regime have been flown to the United States for resettlement, despite COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Transfers from Papua New Guinea and Australian immigration detention centres under the US resettlement program are continuing as the US struggles to contain the pandemic that has killed more than 93,000 people there.

Thirty-five refugees departed Port Moresby on Thursday morning bound for the US via Singapore, and one refugee is due to fly to Finland, according to sources and documents obtained by SBS News.

A handful also departed Australia for the US this week, including several from the Kangaroo Point hotel being used as an "alternative place of detention" (APOD) in Brisbane and from community detention in Melbourne.

Sudanese refugee Omar Muhammed Jack farewelled Australia in a social media post.

"Finally after 7 dark years, I'm leaving to USA today," he posted before boarding the flight in Port Moresby.

"I'm going to be free forever and it's amazing and exciting for me but still the happiness (is) incomplete because as long (as) many innocent refugees and asylum seekers (remain) in unlawful indefinite detention for 7 years in offshore and onshore.

"To all beloved brothers and sisters in Australia... allow me to thank you for all your efforts and support for the last 7 years."

The men are due to arrive in Los Angeles and then be resettled in 18 cities across the US.

A network of Australians in the US called Ads-Up For Refugees has been preparing for their arrival and fundraising to support their resettlement with the added complication of the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's an absolutely brutal time to be arriving in America," Ben Winsor, co-founder of Ads-Up, told SBS News.

"These guys are landing with barely more than the clothes on their backs and they'll be looking for work alongside millions of recently unemployed Americans.

"Since COVID-19 hit, more than 100 refugees reached out to us for help, they've lost jobs and are struggling to pay rent and for basic supplies.

"Refugee resettlement agencies were already overstretched and providing only very basic support, now they're at breaking point."

Many of the refugees have underlying health conditions after years of detention and medical neglect on Manus Island and Nauru.

"Their condition puts them at higher risk from COVID-19," Mr Winsor said.

"We are in daily contact with two refugees in Texas who have contracted COVID-19."

On Tuesday, a number of refugees in Port Moresby celebrated their imminent resettlement under the Australian-US scheme with priest Giorgio Licini, the general secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands.

"They were relaxed but had mixed feelings, especially that there are still some left behind, many are those who were never given refugees status and could not go home," Father Giorgio said.

"We understand that somehow the Australian government wants to finish the US option, they should finish this thing as soon as possible, it makes no sense to prolong this agony."

Father Giorgio said the men did not undergo coronavirus isolation in preparation for their departure.

"They were in the hotel where they stayed most of the time, they underwent the regular medical procedures, but no COVID-19 quarantine," he said.

"PNG is in quite a good situation and there is no trace of the virus. Life here is 95 per cent normal."

A Home Affairs spokesperson did not comment on the latest departures, saying that Australia remained fully committed to the US resettlement program.

Asked what COVID-19 quarantine measures and checks were undertaken, the spokesperson responded: "Refugees are required to undertake a range of US mandated pre-departure preparations."

In Senate estimates in March, the Home Affairs Department said 702 refugees had been resettled in the US under the agreement reached by then Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and US president Barack Obama in 2016.

Under the deal, up to 1,250 refugees who were in offshore processing on Manus Island and Nauru could be resettled in the US at its discretion after clearing "extreme vetting" procedures.

The department said a further 260 were approved but had not yet departed, and some were transferred to Australia under the now-repealed medevac laws for medical treatment.

Home Affairs told the Senate committee that 211 refugees and asylum seekers remained on Nauru, 228 in Papua New Guinea, and about 1,220, including their dependents, were in Australia to receive medical treatment.

Officials said the US aimed to finalise interviewing candidates by "mid-year".

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Dozens of refugees flown from Australia and PNG to US despite coronavirus travel bans

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Dozens of refugees who have spent years in Australia's offshore processing regime have been flown to the United States for resettlement, despite COVID-19 travel restrictions. Transfers from Papua New Guinea and Australian immigration detention centres under the US resettlement program are continuing as the US struggles to contain the pandemic that has killed more than 93,000 people there.

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Urban refugees struggling to survive as economic impact of COVID-19 worsens in East, Horn and Great Lakes of Africa.                              

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Urban refugees struggling to survive as economic impact of COVID-19 worsens in East, Horn and Great Lakes of Africa.                              

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May 26 2020
Due to Covid-19 there has been an economic drop throughout the continent of Africa. This has resulted in numerous job losses and an increase in debt to be paid by the population. Refugees have had to live in harsh conditions with no sanitation, food or running water in order to survive.

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Refugees in urban areas across the East, Horn and Great Lakes region of Africa are struggling to meet their most basic needs as the economic impact of COVID-19 begins take hold.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is working closely with governments and partners to find solutions for urban refugees in these challenging times. However, we fear that without further support, many urban refugees will become extremely vulnerable to exploitation, risk falling into significant levels of debt and may be forced into desperate situations to survive, such as transactional sex or child labour.

Urban refugees are facing job losses as businesses are forced to downsize or close due to COVID-19 restrictions. Many were daily wage workers or worked in the informal economy and were already living hand-to-mouth before the pandemic struck. For example, in Rwanda, most of the 12,000 urban refugees have seen the family wage earners lose their jobs; many had been working for businesses that have closed or are struggling to import commodities due to border restrictions.

Many urban refugees are also living in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions and are particularly vulnerable to the spread of the virus, as in Kenya where thousands of refugees live in impoverished neighbourhoods in Nairobi with little access to clean water, making it nearly impossible to practice regular hand washing.

In both Rwanda and Kenya, UNHCR has been providing emergency cash assistance to the most vulnerable and exploring options to expand programming. In Uganda, UNHCR and WFP are introducing one-off cash assistance for some 80,000 urban refugees using mobile money to help cover rent, food and other key items. However, these are only temporary measures and socio-economic conditions are expected to deteriorate further in the coming weeks and months.

Across the region, most governments have already generously included refugees in their COVID-19 national contingency and response plans. UNHCR calls on States to ensure that as part of these plans, urban refugees additionally have access to social safety nets providing health insurance, food and cash assistance, which the international community should further support.

Many refugees are calling UNHCR informing us they are desperate for help with rent and are facing eviction by their landlords. In Djibouti, UNHCR is working to find alternative accommodation arrangements for refugees and host community members evicted from their homes. Considering the unprecedented nature of pandemic, we urge governments and landlords across the region to develop solutions that would put in place a moratorium on evictions, at least until the crisis subsides.

Refugee children have been particularly impacted by COVID-19 prevention measures, with schools across the region having closed. While most governments have attempted to plug this gap by offering classes through the internet, TV or radio stations, many families lack the required equipment or are unable to afford internet data bundles.

UNHCR and education partners are pursuing a range of solutions including printing home study kits and uploading learning content onto phones in Uganda. In Kenya, the local mobile company, Safaricom, is providing free daily data bundles to some urban refugee students. UNHCR calls on the private sector to follow this example and play a pivotal role in helping ensure refugee kids receive the education they deserve by donating radios, smartphones, tablets, laptops and connectivity options.

UNHCR urges the international community to support its emergency response with further funding so that we can meet the rapidly rising needs before the situation reaches breaking point.

As part of the broader UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan, UNHCR is requesting some US$745 million for life-saving interventions in response to COVID-19, of which $126 million has been requested for countries in the East, Horn and Great Lakes of Africa.
UNHCR's Bureau for the East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region covers 11 countries: Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda. For more information on this topic, please contact:

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Urban refugees struggling to survive as economic impact of COVID-19 worsens in East, Horn and Great Lakes of Africa

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Refugees in urban areas across the East, Horn and Great Lakes region of Africa are struggling to meet their most basic needs as the economic impact of COVID-19 begins take hold. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is working closely with governments and partners to find solutions for urban refugees in these challenging times.