In addition to Refuge’s general articles, book reviews, film reviews and announcements, Issue 38.1 comprises a Special Focus: Refuge in Pandemic Times, with a range of articles detailing “what it is like to seek refuge, undertake research, and provide services to migrants and refugees during these challenging times.” With this same context in mind, the issue opens with three editorials commemorating 40 years of Refuge and reflecting upon the journal’s evolution from a newsletter in the 1980s to an academic, peer-reviewed, open access journal during the ongoing global pandemic.

To view the 40th anniversary edition of Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, please click here:

Source:

For current details on submitting to Refuge, .

is issuing an open call for submissions on the theme of “Refuge in the Time of Pandemic.” Refuge is��interested in two broad types of submissions:

a.��shorter research notes��(max 2,500 words) aimed at identifying important dynamics, issues and trends, and thereby helping to shape the broader research agenda; and

b.��longer research papers��(max. 7,500 words) that adhere to the standard criteria of scholarly contributions to the field.

***

lance un appel ouvert à contributions sur le thème « Le refuge en temps de pandémie ». La revue est intéressée par deux types généraux de soumissions:

1. De courtes notes de recherches (max. 2 500 mots) visant à identifier des dynamiques, enjeux et tendances importantes, contribuant ainsi à façonner un programme de recherche plus large; et
2. Des articles de recherche plus longs (max. 7 500 mots) adhérant aux critères habituels de contribution savante dans ce champ.

The report is based on a CLS online survey which collected information from 678 people, the majority being parents (299), teachers (274) and (105) students.

Among several findings, the report found that teachers, parents and students agree that the quality of teaching and learning deteriorated during COVID-19 lockdowns and that students enrolled in public and non-formal schools received lower quality education than students in private schools.

[Photo © UNICEF]

The report also analyzed the level of preparedness for online training in each of the three countries, with Jordan being the most prepared. In Lebanon, refugee children enrolled in afternoon public schools were excluded from distance learning plans and thus lost access to schooling.

Additionally, the report explored barriers that hindered learning, including technology, financial support and salary cuts, as well as the disadvantages experienced by students with special needs.

Finally, the report provided several recommendations to be considered by policy makers, educators, and parents to better respond to emergencies beyond the pandemic particularly to protect and improve access to quality education, with a special focus on marginalized groups.

In Jordan, more than 2 million students across public, private, and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools have had their education interrupted since schools closed in mid-March 2020. With the spread of COVID-19, Jordan took the quick decision to implement a lockdown but to continue with education, albeit delivering its content remotely. The Ministry of Education (MoE) developed a quick response plan to provide a sense of normalcy for students as well as prevent the risk of students dropping out due to interruption in learning. This report outlines the MoE response to COVID-19 in Jordan, and builds on this response to visualize a roadmap for important interventions on the short, medium, and long terms. This roadmap is visualized based on emerging global resources during the pandemic and knowledge from education in emergency situations.

This report draws on the results of a larger multi-year study on the trajectories from education to employment for refugees and nationals in Lebanon and Jordan, a collaboration between the Centre for Lebanese Studies at the Lebanese American University in Beirut and the , Oxford Brookes University, with the support of , , and LERRN.

Download the full report: Education in the Time of Covid-19 in Jordan (PDF).

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of articles and reports have appeared recently, analyzing the potential for the COVID-19 virus to wreak havoc among refugees living in crowded conditions with inadequate sanitation and limited access to health care. , for example, traces in painful detail the many risk factors which refugees face while the highlights the weaknesses of�� health systems and outlines the steps it is taking to stay and deliver aid to refugees in the midst of the pandemic.

The potential for the virus to spread rapidly among refugees and to produce high casualties is real and terrifying. But what I worry about most are those 80% of the world’s refugees who don’t live in ��but are eking out an existence by working in the informal sector and who have now lost their livelihoods because of the pandemic.

In this morning’s twitter feed, I came across a brief mention of a recent by the Danish Refugee Council in Jordan in which only 3% of Syrian refugee households reported that they currently have an employed family member (down from 65% before COVID-19). Almost 80% said that they don’t have access to sufficient food for the next 3 weeks.

We don’t have this kind of information about refugees everywhere, but as have found, most of the world’s refugees do not have access to the formal labor market in their countries of refuge. Although some are able to access assistance, most of the world’s refugees are likely ‘getting by’ through poorly paid and ad hoc work in the informal sector. While you don’t often think of those living in refugee camps as being privileged, when it comes to aid – and to access to medical care, for that matter – they may be the lucky ones.

What happens to these refugees when they lose their livelihoods? When they can’t work in the informal sector, whether as sidewalk vendors or day labourers in construction or domestic workers? When shut-down orders and curfews are enforced, these are people who can’t work from home and who don’t even have formal employers. Nor do they have the same social safety nets – inadequate as they may be – as citizens in their host country.�� We know that UNHCR is working hard to raise funds to support refugees during this crisis, but UNHCR simply can’t replace the refugees’ lost income.

I’m convinced that we need to shift paradigms away from providing aid to refugees to supporting their right to access the formal labor market in their countries of refuge. And when that access isn’t forthcoming, we need to focus on supporting refugees’ efforts to become self-reliant. In this respect, , the and many other organizations have formed a community of practice around the concept of self-reliance. Promoting self-reliance isn’t easy – particularly when refugees aren’t allowed to work and have to work under the radar. Success so far has been modest as reports on Refuge Point’s efforts to help 3000 refugees in Nairobi to become self-reliant.

Make no mistake, advocating for self-reliance is a pragmatic solution. At best it is a halfway house, a partial solution for refugees that falls far short of the gold standard of citizenship through local integration or return ‘in safety and dignity’ to their homes. Even the most successful cases of self-reliant refugees live awfully close to the edge – one broken leg or one tropical storm can push them into poverty. The focus on self-reliance has been criticized for being in its orientation and as an excuse for donors to cut their assistance, though this critique has largely focused on refugees in camps and sweeping reductions in assistance that affect large groups indiscriminately, rather than the individual aspirations of urban refugees.

Advocating for refugee self-reliance has a long and not very successful . It is far from a panacea. It is an imperfect, incomplete way of assisting refugees to get by when the right answer would be for the international community to step up and find truly lasting and honourable solutions.�� But as interest wanes and refugees lose even their tenuous informal jobs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting and supporting self-reliance of refugees seems like a pragmatic alternative which can help people survive in these tough times.

Dr. Elizabeth Ferris is a Research Professor with the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She has written extensively on refugee, migration and humanitarian issues, including��The Politics of Protection: The Limits of Humanitarian Action (Brookings Institution Press, 2011), and most recently��Refugees, Migration and Global Governance: Negotiating the Global Compacts with Katharine Donato (Routledge 2019).��

This blog post was co-authored by refugee leaders from LERRN Mustafa Alio and Pascal Zigashane, along with LERRN Project Director James Milner and leaders from the Global Refugee-led Network Shaza Alrihawi, Anila Noor and Najeeba Wazefadost to discuss the importance of embracing and supporting refugee leadership and delivering on our promise of refugee participation.��

published on the Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law website.��

As I am writing this piece, 201 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Kenya. Nine have died while 25 have fully recovered. While it is too early to confidently conclude that it is the strict measures that the Kenya government has instituted that has suppressed the spread of Coronavirus, the numbers remain low and manageable. When the first case was reported on 14^th March 2020, the government quickly closed all schools, colleges and universities which together host about 15 million students and staff, this almost a third of Kenya’s total population of 47 million. Medical advice such as washing hands, using sanitizers, social distancing and wearing masks became a daily routine amplified by almost every media house and on social media. A week later the government banned public gatherings of more than ten people, imposed a dawn-dusk curfew and moved to limit public travel. The final move was to ban movement into and out of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale counties which together have the highest number of cases reported.

In the midst of all these, the Kenya government has acknowledged that the disease will affect groups and individuals differently depending on their vulnerability. The government has mapped out vulnerable groups who will need immediate assistance including the urban poor, the elderly and people with existing chronic conditions.

However, since the daily briefings started on the 16^th March 2020, no government official has mentioned or acknowledged the existence of almost one million refugees in Kenya, whether in the refugee camps or in urban centres. Yet the control measures put in place will probably affect them more than others. Several arguments can be made to verify this position.

First, refugee protection and humanitarian assistance in the entire East and Horn of Africa is coordinated largely from Nairobi. Stopping all movement into and out of Nairobi cuts off a crucial link between Nairobi and the refugee camps in Kenya and also activities in Somalia and ��South Sudan. Personnel in the UN related organizations, civil society groups and NGOs who work with refugees and asylum seekers are unlikely to move and reach their clients. While the movement of essential services such as food items and medical supplies remain open, the coordination becomes a nightmare when the concerned personnel cannot move. When I enquired from a government official, I was informed that food rations in the camp was to be increased as well as medical supplies, however a refugee contact denied receiving increased rations.

Second, refugees in camps in Kenya have to endure restricted movement most of the time. Further restrictions only worsen their situation. Refugees who had travelled to Nairobi cannot go back to the camps and those in the camps who planned to travel to Nairobi cannot. Often such travels are either for medical conditions, processing documents, security reasons or conducting interviews for resettlement. Refugees also travel to access remittances, a critical survival mechanism, in nearby towns. Since refugees have to supplement what they are given by purchasing food items from nearby towns, they are unable to do so now.

Third, urban refugees often live in precarious settings and constitute a large number of the urban poor. Yet some of them do not have proper identification documents that may help them access assistance from the government. Some prefer to remain anonymous. Many of them are in the informal economy living from hand to mouth. Some of the markets are closed, many informal businesses have been shut and government officials are paying particular attention to the informal settlements in Nairobi and other urban areas curtailing most of activities considered non-essential. Refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants therefore face grim choices due to the outbreak of Coronavirus. Due to these difficulties a refugee committed suicide near the UNHCR compound in Nairobi on 13^th April 2020.

However not all is doom and gloom. Some organizations and governments are offering support. For example, the government of South Sudan has offered to support their nationals who are students in universities and tertiary colleges by giving an allowance of USD 250 to pay for accommodation and subsistence during this period of lockdown. Kenya Red Cross is also reaching out to some of these vulnerable urban refugees. Yet, the Kenya government must appreciate the fundamental lesson that COVID 19 has spread across the globe; a threat to humanity anywhere is a threat to humanity everywhere regardless of nationality, social status, religious conviction or gender.

Dulo Nyaoro is the Director of the Peace and Reconciliation Institute at in Eldoret, Kenya and the lead of the LERRN Kenya Geographic Working Group.��

The world is facing a health threat and Kenya is finding it very crucial to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Kakuma refugee camp is an arid place with no agriculture activities. Refugees fully depend on food stock from other counties in Kenya, especially Kitale County. Fear rises amongst refugees if they become disconnected from other parts of Kenya. I talked to Chance Bahati, a business owner, who said that

“product prices have increased and the curfew has affected my business. Many people come to my shop late in the evening and now they are not coming because, all shops should be shut by 7pm.”

With restrictions put in place by the Government of Kenya and the UNHCR, refugees are hopeless to navigate this global health crisis. Several government services to asylum seekers and refugees have been suspended. This includes welcoming refugees and registration. The Refugee Affairs Secretariat has suspended all its activities in Nairobi and Kakuma refugee camp.

UNHCR Kakuma has passed information to refugees in Kakuma through a public system managed by FilmAid International. They have warned refugees not to leave the camp and that they will be arrested by Kenyan Police out of the camp. UNHCR will not take any responsibility and will not provide assistance to anyone who will test positive with COVID-19.

Health care providers in Kakuma, IRC (International Rescue Committee) and AIC (Africa Inland Church) are at risk. They don’t have COVID-19 prevention kits. They are very exposed to this pandemic disease. Distancing measures are not applicable. There are many patients who are suffering from other diseases at the clinic and they don’t understand distancing measures.

Monicah Atiek, who is a South Sudanese woman, shared with me her worries about women in Kakuma becoming the most victimized people.

“A community which has residents from different nationalities share 1 tap and all residents should fetch water from that tap. It is easy to contract the virus at the tap and spread it in the family.”

Refugee women at the Kakuma refugee camp fetching water from a tap to bring back to their families. [Photo courtesy of Pascal Zigashane]

She is also worried that her fellow refugees will contract the virus and die without medical personnel to attend them.

Despite many people not respecting the measures put in place to prevent the virus, few refugees are observing wash hand measures when they are at the police station and market places. More efforts are required to protect refugees from this deadly virus.

Pascal Zigashane is the executive director at����in Kakuma, Kenya. He worked with Kenya Red Cross Society, Refunit and Jesuit Refugee Service. Pascal also volunteers at Sky School as an education coordinator and IT support.

Jordan is taking a number of pivotal measures to fight the spread of COVID-19. In her latest post, Dr. Oroub El Abed, a principal researcher and co-investigator in Jordan at the , outlines the new challenges this crisis has created in the labour market, especially for the most vulnerable wageworkers, including refugees and migrants.

An alarming message from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission in Western Asia (ESCWA )[1] warning of the severe consequences of the COVID-19 crisis on women, children and the daily workers of the informal sector who have no social protection or insurance. In Jordan, which has declared State of Emergency since March, 17^th 2020, to take all pre-emptive restrictions to control the spread of the virus, a special fund has been established to address the needs of families inflicted by the crisis. “Al Khair” account, opened as per Defence Order No 4 of 2020,[2] for the benefit of underprivileged families at the Ministry of Social Development. The fund aims to channel the money from local and international donations to support the impact of the lockdown and curfew imposed on the cities.

Al Khair fund as explained by the Prime Minister of Jordan, shall target families that have been directly affected and the daily wage workers who have lost their source of income due to the lockdown. Moreover, as a way to support the private sector, especially the small enterprises, the Central Bank of Jordan has launched a soft financing programme for small-and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) [3] providing financing to professionals, craftspeople and SMEs to cover their operational working capital and limit the fall out of the coronavirus impact on their businesses.

This emergency response, that seeks to support national capital and mobilize resources to provide social protection to the poor and vulnerable people in the informal sector and to secure protection of the private sector workers, has not mentioned the refugees, per se, who also live under a nationwide curfew to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Jordan hosts multinational refugees especially the mass influx in the last twenty years as a result of the regional conflicts in the Arab World. Today, the Syrians constitute the majority where about 656,103 (as registered by UNCHR)[4] live in Jordan added to few ten thousands Iraqis, Libyans, Yemeni, Somali and Sudanese.

This is added to the Palestinian refugees, who do not hold the Jordanian nationality and make around 634,182 as per 2015 census.[5] The United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that refugees in Jordan who make about 745,192 live in majority 83.5 percent in urban areas meanwhile about 16.5 percent live in three camps for the Syrians in the north of the country and 17 percent in UNRWA camps for Palestine refugees.[6]

As part of Jordan compact, which sought in 2016 to economically integrate the Syrian refugees, certain jobs have been left open[7] for investing in the Syrian refugee human capital through mobilizing international funds in industrial economic areas. Currently, only 173,000 of Syrian refugees hold work permits and are able to work in the services and construction industries.[8] Yet, the majority of the refugees (including Syrians and other nationalities) have chosen to work informally, with no contracts or access to health or medical insurance which has made them even more vulnerable as a result of the three weeks of lockdown all over Jordan.

Both UNRWA, which serves the Palestinian refugees[9] and UNHCR[10] have launched COVID appeals in the month of March seeking additional funding to manage the emergency response, in order to support households who have lost their source of income with immediate cash assistance. Moreover, they are negotiating with key ministries in Jordan to ensure that the response measures taken by the government of Jordan concerning the employment sector of daily wage workers are applied as well to refugees, and not only citizens.

At the civil society level, there has been several initiatives led by the Jordan National Aid Fund (under the Ministry of Social Development) and the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO), inviting grassroots and local NGOs to share the contacts of their beneficiaries, regardless of their nationalities, who have been direly affected by the lockdown. Naua, a social impact platform (under Crown Prince Foundation) that aims to promote philanthropy and civic engagement, is leading a national campaign with the Ministry of Social Development to support daily wage workers and their 200,000 families through mobilizing aid from individuals and private sector institutions.[11] These initiatives seek to provide some financial support and basic food packages. With the month of Ramadan (the month of fasting for Muslims) looming in the near future, the situation, if the lockdown persists, may become more alarming.

Dr. El Abed is a Collaborator on the LERRN partnership, a postdoctoral research fellow and Co-investigator at the on the project studying ‘From Education to Employment: Trajectories of Youth in Jordan and Lebanon in Contexts of Protracted Displacement.’

[1] ��Coronavirus pandemic threatens to plunge millions in Arab region into poverty and food insecurity, 1/April/2020

[2] Jordan Times, 31/March/2020 :

[3] ��CBJ launches JD500m soft financing programme for SMEs, Jordan Times, 1/April/2020

[4] . The Jordanian government estimates the Syrians to be around 1’500,000.

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

This year’s World Health Day comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is sweeping the globe and putting millions of lives at risk. It’s important to highlight that refugees are more vulnerable to infection due to their precarious living conditions in camps. As the world continues its attempt to flatten the curve and find a cure for the virus, it’s crucial to consider and include the particular vulnerabilities of marginalized populations to ensure an inclusive and effective global response. �� ��

Faith Mario Mjalilla, Program Officer Legal Advocacy and Communications at �� provides insights into the response in Tanzania and the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for refugees:

As the Arabian proverb goes, “He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.” For refugees and asylum seekers who have been forced to leave everything behind in their countries to find safety in a foreign land, health is their greatest wealth.

Recently the (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic. On 16th March, the government of Tanzania confirmed its first case. COVID-19 is a global challenge due to the absence of a vaccine and treatment. While COVID-19 does not discriminate and we are all susceptible, the precarious living conditions of refugees increases their vulnerability to the disease.

Likewise, the response to the virus should not discriminate; it should include those who are most marginalized like refugees. This is important because the best way to manage COVID-19 is by breaking the chains of transmission, which cannot be achieved if some individuals are excluded.

The Regional Administration and Local Government of Kigoma developed a COVID-19 Contingency Plan (KCP) which integrates refugees and asylum seekers as well. 244,629 of 287,160 registered refugees in Tanzania live in refugee camps that are located in Kigoma, a region bordering DRC and Burundi. Kigoma ranks second priority risk region; luckily, there are no officially confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of now. The government of Tanzania, , and civil society organizations (CSOs) are working hard to ensure that refugees in camps are safe from COVID-19 by further scaling up health, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Currently, refugees in camps are being provided with extra soap and additional litres of water to 20 litres per person to reinforce personal hygiene practices. Hand-washing facilities have been established in public places and offices to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Nyarugusu refugee camp in the western province of Kigoma, Tanzania. [Photo © Aaron Amy Tate]

In urban settings, only a portion of the legally recognized refugees and asylum seekers with permits to reside in urban areas have been provided with sanitizers and soaps. The majority of urban refugees depend on UNHCR for their humanitarian needs, because they are not allowed to work, purchasing sanitizers, soap and enough water is a luxury they cannot afford with the little financial support they get from UNHCR. The situation is harder for refugees without permits who reside in urban areas. They do not receive any humanitarian assistance, and most have no jobs. They can barely get three meals per day, which may likely compromise their immunity.

They do not have access to enough water and cannot afford sanitizers or extra soap. How they will stay safe from COVID-19 is a mystery.

UNHCR, CSOs, and the government in refugee camps have been raising awareness to their staff, refugees, and host communities regarding COVID-19. They use posters prepared in different languages, seminars, and loud speakers to ensure that the message on COVID-19, preventive measures, and best health practices reach everyone.

The same is not done for urban refugees. It may be assumed that they have the same access to media as most Tanzanians in urban areas, but most of them are struggling to get their daily meal; they cannot think of buying a TV, radio, or newspaper. They are then at the risk of being misinformed hence risking everyone.

WHO and health care workers insist on social distancing. Refugee camps in Tanzania are already congested, making it easy for COVID-19 to spread rapidly. Like everywhere in the country, the government, UNHCR, and CSOs have been promoting social distancing in camps, and all schools are closed. These measures have brought many aspects of life to a standstill, but a strict response is necessary to stay healthy and to protect everyone. As refugees practice social distancing, the exercise to repatriate Burundian refugees is still in progress! While many countries have closed borders and suspended all the unnecessary movements to contain the virus, Burundi and Tanzania have not. Repatriation puts repatriating refugees and everyone else in danger.

The government and UNHCR have undertaken measures to improve the conditions of hospitals and creating isolation centres at refugee camps and villages of host communities.

The approach being taken to control the spread of the disease further demonstrates that it is necessary not only to see good health as the absence of illness. It is a fundamental part of daily life in which people attain their needs and cope with their environment to achieve physical, mental, and social well-being.

Faith Mario Mjalilla is a Research Assistant and Program Officer at DIGNITY Kwanza who particularly focuses on legal aid, policy advocacy and communications.