Dado que la COVID-19 aumenta las necesidades y vulnerabilidades de las personas refugiadas, desplazadas internas y apátridas, ACNUR, la Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados, está preocupado porque los impactos de la pandemia también están aumentando su riesgo de ser víctimas de trata y explotación.

“Las medidas impuestas para controlar la pandemia y el empeoramiento de las condiciones socioeconómicas están teniendo serias implicaciones para las personas desplazadas a la fuerza. Quienes ahora enfrentan la pérdida de medios de vida y la pobreza extrema pueden ser objetivos para los tratantes de personas que explotan sin escrúpulos y se aprovechan de sus vulnerabilidades”, dijo la Alta Comisionada Auxiliar para la Protección del ACNUR, Gillian Triggs.

Brazil is host to more than 345,000 refugees and asylum seekers, for whom the consequences of the pandemic are especially harsh.

In an effort to limit the spread and impact of the virus, UNHCR is enhancing community awareness efforts, including through information campaigns and preventive information sessions in the different indigenous languages. Hygiene promotion has also been scaled up in temporary shelters: hand-washing stations have been installed and soap distribution continue to take place since the beginning of March.

UNHCR is also addressing rising humanitarian and health needs among refugees living on the streets, and in overcrowded shelters and unsanitary conditions in the northern regions of Brazil, including in Amazonas, Roraima and Para states.

Parte de adaptarse a la "nueva normalidad" es encontrar formas de vivir nuestras vidas de manera segura”, explicó Tedros Adhanon Gebreyesus.

“Se trata de tomar buenas decisiones. Estamos pidiendo a todos que tomen las decisiones sobre dónde ir, qué hacer y a quién ver como si fueran decisiones de vida o muerte; porque lo son. Puede no ser tu vida, pero tu elección puede marcar la diferencia entre la vida y la muerte de alguien a quien amas o de un extraño”, dijo.

“We must remember that most people are still susceptible to this virus. As long as it’s circulating, everyone is at risk”, said Tedros (Adhanom Ghebreyesus), adding, “just because cases might be at a low level where you live, that doesn’t make it safe to let down your guard.”

“In recent years we’ve seen young people leading grassroots movements for climate change and racial equality. Now we need young people to start a global movement for health – for a world in which health is a human right, not a privilege”, he suggested.

El documento es producto de trece reuniones sostenidas entre la Oficina de la Secretaría General para la Crisis de Migrantes y Refugiados Venezolanos y la Coalición por Venezuela, conformada por 63 organizaciones de la sociedad civil que brindan asistencia a venezolanos en 23 países de la región.

“La situación de migrantes y refugiados venezolanos representa uno de los más grandes desafíos durante la pandemia por COVID-19, toda vez que ha supuesto el incremento de la dificultad para ejercicio pleno de sus derechos, tales como: acceso a la salud, a la educación, el derecho a la vida, a la vivienda, a la alimentación, al trabajo y la salvaguarda de los medios de vida,” señala el documento en la introducción.

As the world continues to combat COVID-19, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the German Presidency of the European Union (EU) to keep refugee protection high on the agenda. UNHCR is proposing concrete ways the EU can ensure a bold and robust response to forced displacement during the pandemic as well as long term. The envisaged EU Pact on Migration and Asylum also provides an opportunity for the EU to better protect forcibly displaced people in Europe and abroad, and support host countries.

“Now more than ever, the safety of our society as a whole depends on the effective protection of the most vulnerable. Xenophobia and discrimination undermine our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to address the socio-economic impacts that disproportionately burden the most vulnerable and marginalized elements of our societies including migrants”, said IOM Director General António Vitorino.

As the world continues to combat COVID-19, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the German Presidency of the European Union (EU) to keep refugee protection high on the agenda. UNHCR is proposing concrete ways the EU can ensure a bold and robust response to forced displacement during the pandemic as well as long term. The envisaged EU Pact on Migration and Asylum also provides an opportunity for the EU to better protect forcibly displaced people in Europe and abroad, and support host countries.

Emphasizing on the urgency of obligations to respect human rights and the rule of law in the current context around COVID-19 pandemic, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner stated- “It is clear that securing the rule of law and human rights is key to achieving the transformational change we need - based on principles of trust, accountability and justice. This ultimately means forging a new, more inclusive social contract.”

“In these challenging times we need to reinforce, support and work in partnership with NHRIs to address COVID-19. We also need to support member states to ‘recover back better’ - to use inclusive approaches in their recovery towards achieving the SDGs and securing the social contract,” stated Asako Okai, UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau.

COVID-19 is presenting critical challenges for humans everywhere. Restrictions on human mobility are exposing many people on the move to significant risks, impacting their human rights and well-being, impeding our collective response to the pandemic, and threatening our ability to ensure a recovery in which no-one is left behind. But this current environment is also an opportunity for us to reimagine how migration can be governed in a more humane and effective way, during and after this crisis. 

The COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying inequalities experienced by the world’s one billion people with disabilities, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in launching a report issued on Wednesday that calls for a disability-inclusive recovery and response to the crisis.

Efforts to counter the COVID-19 pandemic have seen unprecedented restrictions on movement being imposed in many countries, both at borders and within countries. Some communities and policymakers have adopted increasingly hostile attitudes towards migrants, whom they perceive as contagion risks. Barriers to movement are therefore not only state-imposed but can also be community led.

Esta guía busca apoyar a los Estados Miembros de la OEA en la respuesta ante la pandemia, ofreciéndoles una serie de herramientas para pensar respuestas que tengan en cuenta las circunstancias particulares de los grupos en situación de vulnerabilidad. La guía señala que, bajo situaciones de emergencia como la pandemia y en un contexto regional marcado por la desigualdad y la exclusión social, la situación de vulnerabilidad de estos grupos se agrava. Es por ello que la OEA, a través de esta guía, señala que los Estados Miembros deben poner el énfasis en la garantía del derecho a la salud de estos grupos, utilizando criterios de distinción objetivos y razonables, basados en la equiparación de las oportunidades para saldar la brecha de desigualdad y evitando diferencias de trato arbitrarias.