Justice and Human Rights United Kingdom Project #25878

Promoting Human Rights of Refugees in Europe

by Refugee Rights Europe

Project Report | May 4, 2020
Our COVID-19 response: leave no one behind

By Marta Welander | Executive Director

Credit: Tessa Kraan

We hope you are keeping safe and well in these challenging and uncertain times.

At Refugee Rights Europe, we have been as busy as ever, calling for a Covid-19 response that includes displaced people and refugees across Europe. Read on to find out how.

Our response to the Covid-19 crisis

To develop a truly effective response to the ongoing and unprecedented coronavirus crisis, we cannot leave anyone behind.

That is why we have been leading or joining advocacy efforts to include displaced people in the Covid-19 response in Greece, France, Italy and the UK.

We highlight the impact that Covid-19 could have on displaced people across Europe, many of whom do not have access to basic healthcare, in our analysis.
We also raised concerns about the Covid-19 response in northern France in an open letter to the European Union, the United Nations and the Council of Europe. We then joined more than 100 associations in Italy calling for a decisive response there. Find out more about our response in Italy.
Now more than ever, it is essential that we relocate children from the Greek Islands. This is what we have been calling for in our latest campaign, along with more than 90 NGOs and frontline groups. Relocating children will not only protect them, it will also address Covid-19 risks in Europe more broadly. Learn more about the campaign.

Influencing the United Nations

The evidence we submitted with frontline partners to UN Committees in recent months is making an impact on international policy recommendations:

In line with our submission, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights made recommendations to Belgium to guarantee a dignified standard of living for asylum seekers. They expressed concern about the persistent discrimination against displaced people, including with regards to access to housing, health and to adequate nutrition.
Similarly, the Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding refugees in Greece made recommendations about the EU-Turkey statement and the EU Hotspots approach which followed the evidence in our own submission.

New analysis on our blog

As always, none of this work would have been possible without the incredible support from donors like yourself. Thank you infinitely for all of your ongoing support, and please take care.

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