'Pandemic raised economic burden on migrants, refugees'

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified hardships endured by refugees and migrants around the world, including the millions being hosted for years by Turkey, according to a leading Turkish aid group, Anadolu Agency.

Along with the health risks, the economic impact of the crisis has been an immense challenge for people trying to start new lives away from home, said Ibrahim Vurgun Kavlak, general coordinator for the Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (SGDD-ASAM).

“Refugees and migrants who managed to get daily wage jobs and were trying to make a living suffered a setback; their livelihoods were affected,” he told Anadolu Agency on International Migrants Day, marked globally on December 18.

He said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, has also warned that the pandemic’s economic effects will increase migration around the world, particularly Europe.

Currently, the total population of migrants around the world stands at 272 million. This figure is projected to hit 500 million by 2050

said Kavlak.

“At least 70 million of the 272 million are refugees, asylum seekers, and people forced to migrate. Just in the past 10 years, some 50 million people have been forced to migrate from their home countries.”

READ: EU allocates over $7bn to Turkey in exchange for receiving refugees

He said human migration was an age-old reality of our world but its scale and the reasons driving it today remain unprecedented.

During such mass movement, the risks of COVID-19 are even greater and there is a need for measures to protect people, Kavlak added.

“Many public and private aid groups have provided sanitation supplies and protective gear such as masks for migrants and refugees,” he said.

“Brochures in several languages were also provided to give them necessary information on COVID-19, along with research on the methods to increase protection for displaced people.”