The Politics of Refugee Protection in a (Post)COVID-19 World

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is not a “great equaliser” as some have claimed, but rather an amplifier of existing inequalities, including those associated with migration. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is refugees, often the most marginalised of all migrants, who have had the most to lose. Refugees and displaced populations living in crowded and unhygienic conditions have often been unable to protect themselves from the virus, face increasing economic precarity and often find themselves excluded from measures to alleviate poverty and hunger. The threat to refugees comes not only from material (in)security, but from increasing exclusion and exceptionalism associated with the politics of protection. Evidence from the first nine months of the pandemic suggests that some governments, in Europe and US but also the Global South, are using COVID-19 as an excuse to double-down on border closures and/or dip into their migration policy toolboxes to demonstrate the robustness of their response to it. Refugees are increasingly prevented from accessing the international protection to which they are potentially entitled or used (alongside migrants more generally) as scapegoats by populist leaders exploiting the pandemic for political mileage. Some states have used the pandemic to push through controversial policies that further limit access to protection and/or institutionalize the marginalization of refugees. In this context, it seems likely that COVID-19 will accelerate the course of history in relation to refugee protection, rather than changing its direction.

Logistification and Hyper-Precarity at the Intersection of Migration and Pandemic Governance: Refugees in the Turkish Labour Market

“…They number over one million people in Turkey. Our research echoes some of the most recent findings in showing that refugees, often the most marginalized of all migrants, are unable to protect themselves from the virus, face increasing economic precarity and find themselves excluded from measures to alleviate poverty ( Crawley 2021 ). We further elaborate on how governance of a health crisis and of migration intersect and result in simultaneous inclusion and exclusion, which shifts according to market logistics.…”

“…Hyper-precarity describes lives characterized by uncertainty and lack of security often originating from social unease, or from neo-liberal labour market experiences ( Waite, 2009 ). Indeed, refugees are not only exposed to material (in)security, but to increasing exclusion associated with the politics of protection ( Crawley 2021 ) during the pandemic. We also found that shifting exclusion even goes beyond precarity, which has been defined as stemming from jobs lacking in predictability and material or psychological welfare, such as part-time work and fixed period contracts ( Barbier 2005 ; della Porta et al 2015 ).…”

“…This topic warrants examination for several reasons: first, the pandemic has had detrimental effects on the economies of all countries, but all parts of society were not impacted in the same way as existing inequalities were exacerbated ( Crawley 2021 ). More research is needed to understand the mechanisms through which these inequalities have been governed.…”

Pervasive systemic drivers underpin COVID-19 vulnerabilities in migrants

“…COVID-19–related social inequalities are also characterised by social marginalisation and exclusion with social exclusion manifesting predominantly through unequal access to resources, limited political, social and economic participation and voice, and the denial of opportunities [ 10 ]. Such social marginalisation and exclusion are the conditions that most asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented foreign nationals around the world are facing [ 11 , 12 ]. In this commentary, the root causes of social inequality vis-à-vis asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented foreign nationals in the context of COVID-19 are discussed, contributing to ongoing discussions on how the COVID-19 pandemic is showing the migrant-inequality narrative in an uncomfortable new light.…”

“…In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, such actions are driven by and reinforced through the invocation and normalisation of different narratives and rhetoric, which serve to discursively and physically separate, segregate and exclude migrants [ 30 ]. Such actions highlight some ways in which fears of migration and COVID-19 have caused some governments to react in ways that fundamentally undermine the effectiveness and humanity of countries’ responses to both [ 12 ]. For example, placing asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants in under-resourced and crowded camps, which provide inadequate and overcrowded living arrangements to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 infection will rather increase the chances of COVID-19 outbreaks while undermining their human rights such as freedom from arbitrary detention [ 27 ].…”