June 17, 2020

The refugees’ vulnerability during the pandemic

topic:	Refugees and Asylum
located:	Brazil, Venezuela
editor:	Ellen Nemitz

Every year, World Refugee Day, on June 20, reminds us of the millions of people from different countries who leave their homes fleeing war, extreme poverty, persecutions, among other reasons all for the cause of seeking for a safe life with dignity. In 2020, the world has one more reason to worry: COVID-19 is an additional threat to refugees' lives.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the disease can potentially affect everyone on the planet, but displaced people can be even more vulnerable because they "often have limited access to water, sanitation systems and health facilities.” Refugee camps also barely allow conditions of social distancing and many places in the world undergo medicine shortage due to lockdown and lack of logistic services. At least 134 refugee-hosting countries have already reported local transmission of COVID-19, changing the lives of refugees all over the world, especially those from countries already hit by other serious crises, such as Venezuela.

This is Ninoska Potella’s story. After the deepening economic crisis in her country, she left home escaping violence, political instability, food and medicine shortage. In Brazil, her family found jobs, a house and saw the birth of her granddaughter, still a baby today. With the pandemic, her sons and daughters lost income and she stopped singing at events. “We had the emergency aid from government denied and now depend on social assistance to survive,” she shares.

Migrants and refugees are most likely to be informal workers and have difficulties to access information and public services, especially because of language barriers, with the situation only worsening by a crisis such as the current one. Thus, they are also more exposed to deeper negative effects on mental health caused by anxiety and surviving uncertainty.

Each individual's response may differ, according to Mariana Duarte, a psychologist who coordinates mental health services in an international humanitarian organisation. She has been in Liberia for some weeks ago, a country recently hit by the Ebola epidemic, and shares that some people still feel the effects of having lost their family, while others deny the importance of COVID-19, as they are struggling to survive and find food for their children.

In medium and long terms, professionals who are working with migrants and refugees, are concerned about the possible recrudescence of border closings, as well as the loss of important protective laws. One example is the Brazilian advanced Migration Law that guarantees to foreigners the same rights of its citizens. “We cannot be all critical, of course. I believe people can learn from the differences, look to the others, be more supportive and respectful,” speculates psychologist Mariana Duarte, even though she recognises that things like racism and fascism can arise stronger after the pandemic.

Solidarity and collective efforts are the key for all of us to overcome this humanitarian crisis — imagining a better future is the goal of a special activity promoted by UNHCR in the north of Brazil, where Venezuelans are producing draws, poems, paintings and other arts to represent their dreams. “This crisis shows that we have a role; that everybody makes a difference and each action is important," said the representative of UNHCR in Brazil, Jose Egas.

Image by David Mark 

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