NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
MINSK, 3 June (BelTA) - The protection of refugees and migrants in the face of the pandemic has become the subject of another statement by the UN secretary general. Antonio Guterres stressed that it is in the public interest to support these people, who are now facing three crises rolled into one, BelTA learned from the UN News Centre.
“No country can fight the pandemic or manage migration alone. But together, we can contain the spread of the virus, buffer its impact on the most vulnerable and recover better for the benefit of all”, Antonio Guterres said in a video message.
“While the pandemic continues to shatter lives and livelihoods across the globe, it is the most vulnerable who are being hit the hardest. This population includes refugees, internally displaced people and migrants in precarious situations, who are facing three crises rolled into one,” the secretary general noted. He said that COVID-19 is at first a health crisis, and people on the move can be exposed to the virus in crowded conditions where health care, water and sanitation are often hard to find, and physical distancing is “an impossible luxury”.
“They are also confronting a socio-economic crisis, especially those working in the informal sector who have no access to protection schemes. “In addition, the loss of income from COVID-19 is likely to lead to a colossal $109 billion drop in remittances,” the UN Secretary General said. “This is the equivalent of nearly three-quarters of all official development assistance that is no longer being sent back home to the 800 million people who depend on it," Antonio Guterres said.
“At the same time, fear of COVID-19 has led to skyrocketing xenophobia, racism and stigmatization”, the UN head said. “And the already precarious situation of women and girls is ever more dire, as they face higher risks of exposure to gender-based violence, abuse and exploitation.”
The UN chief also called for upholding human dignity in the face of the crisis, suggesting that lessons can be learned from those countries which have implemented travel restrictions and border controls while respecting international principles on refugee protection.
He also repeated a core message of the crisis: no one is safe until everyone is safe, and that medicines to diagnose and treat COVID-19 must be accessible to all people.
Antonio Guterres reminded the states of the potential of migrants. “Even as refugees and migrants face all these challenges, they are contributing heroically on the frontlines in essential work. About one in eight of all nurses globally, for example, is practicing in a country different from where they were born,” he said.
Finally, he underlined that “people on the move” are part of the solution, and called for countries to explore pathways that would regularize migration and reduce remittance transaction costs.
