key: cord-0051263-qm011w6k
authors: McAdam, Jane
title: A Watching Brief on the Impacts of COVID-19 on the World’s Displaced People
date: 2020-09-18
journal: nan
DOI: 10.1093/ijrl/eeaa020
sha: b3e9d9c81f8e8e9ae40dd0d6a86800250ec7331b
doc_id: 51263
cord_uid: qm011w6k

nan

indefinite deprivation of liberty, such as those detained in Australia's immigration facilities or contained on Manus Island or Nauru, with no solution in sight. There, and in the global north, human rights courts and bodies have held time and again that States are inflicting inhuman and degrading treatment on people in search of protection.

At any time of crisis, vulnerable groups suffer most. And as governments decide how to deploy limited resources in response to COVID-19, it is likely that displaced people will be disproportionately affected. As one commentator asked, how might Turkey, hosting more than four million refugees, decide to channel its limited resources? 'Imagine the European migration crisis that changed the politics of a continent happening again,' he wrote, 'but then add the ramifications of a few million people carrying a fast-spreading virus' . 1 The response of many countries has been to close their borders -to everyone other than nationals and permanent residents. But as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has emphasized, while governments may lawfully manage public health risks by screening, testing, or quarantining people upon entry, this must 'not result in denying them an effective opportunity to seek asylum or result in refoulement' . 2 In other words, people who need protection from persecution or other serious harm must still have an opportunity to be granted it.

Counter-intuitively, formal border closures might in fact heighten the risk of coronavirus spreading, as people in need of protection find alternative ways to enter a country, bypassing health checks and quarantine. 3 There is no doubt that governments need to react swiftly and decisively to limit the spread of COVID-19, and that this justifies exceptional measures. However, all such measures must be non-discriminatory, provided for by law, and be reasonable, proportionate, and necessary to protect public health. 4 Emergency powers should be time-bound and only extended if the situation continues to justify them, but there is a risk that certain restrictive practices become the norm. This happened after 9/11, when 'exceptional', temporary powers assumed by governments in the wake of the New York terrorist attacks became permanent mainstays of national security (leading to what some have dubbed a permanent legal emergency). 5 COVID-19-related restrictions on movement and personal liberty could become the 'new normal' as well, with highly detrimental consequences for people in need of protection.

International cooperation has never been more important. As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said: 'COVID-19 is menacing the whole of humanity -and so the whole of humanity must fight back. Individual country responses are not going to be enough' . 6 Everyone benefits when the whole community has equal access to information, health care, and testing, and international funding should support this. Yet, as Refugees International adroitly observed, just when global solidarity and cooperation are so needed, many countries are turning inwards. 7 So, what comes next? There is the danger that governments retreat to nationalism, 8 and people's fears about borders and mobility harden. But there is also a chance we could see 'a new type of pragmatic and protective internationalism' over the longer term, 9 something akin to the post-Second World War optimism of a new, multilateral world order. That moment brought us the modern refugee and human rights law regime -protections that seemed unimaginable during the midst of the conflict.

In April 2020, the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW Sydney created a blog, 'COVID-19 Watch', to examine the impacts of COVID-19 on the world's displaced people. The International Journal of Refugee Law will continue this 'watching brief ' by republishing some of the blog posts (with updates for currency) to examine the role of international law in protecting refugees, asylum seekers, and other displaced people during the pandemic.

Original blog post 6 April 2020; updated 18 May 2020 5

Post 9/11 and the State of Permanent Legal Emergency: Security and Human Rights in Countering Terrorism

Secretary-General's Remarks at Launch of Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19

Refugees International, COVID-19 and the Displaced: Addressing the Threat of the Novel Coronavirus in Humanitarian Emergencies

A World Less Open, Prosperous, and Free' in 'How the World Will Look after the Coronavirus Pandemic' (Foreign Policy

Democracies Will Come Out of Their Shell' in 'How the World Will Look