COVID-19 Info
COVID-19 and the Human Rights of Migrants: Guidance
States should take specific measures that are responsive to age, gender, disability and other factors, in order to support migrants in vulnerable situations, who are at risk of being disproportionately affected by the virus crisis.
The following link leads to a downloadable document.
Preparedness, prevention and control of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for refugees and migrants in non-camp settings
This document offers guidance to Member States and partners for the inclusion of refugees and migrants, as part of holistic efforts to respond to COVID-19 epidemics in the general populations.
The following link leads to a downloadable document.
COVID-19’s impact on migrant communities
One crucial part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic is to make sure that all members of society have the information they need to stay healthy and follow quarantine guidelines. To ensure that migrants are not overlooked in the response, civil society organisations have been busy translating and communicating vital information to their communities. Authorities have also made an effort to communicate critical information in multiple languages.
Information on COVID-19 for migrants in Italy, created by UNHCR and ACRI’s JUMA MAP
A site dedicated to information for migrants on Coronavirus, with relevant information divided into the sections: health, rules and behaviour, asylum and immigration, work, social welfare, minors, and gender-based violence. Information is offered in 14 languages offering audio and video information. The site includes links to the relevant government ministry websites, important contacts, and official documentation/forms.
ASGI (Association for Legal Studies on Immigration) — Italy
A collection of links to information on COVID-19 for migrants, where they can find information translated into multiple languages, as well as information specific to different regions of Italy. Many of the pages include videos and audio files.
Information for legal practitioners on immigration and asylum, including material specific to COVID-19 related issues
Regional Observatory on immigration and the right to asylum (Piemonte) offers video lectures for legal practitioners working in the field of immigration and asylum. The website has been supplemented by lectures and written material on COVID-19 within this field
Multilingual information service for migrants on the coronavirus (COVID-19) by the City of Vienna
The City of Vienna’s Integration and Diversity Department (MA 17) offers a multilingual information service during the corona crisis, where you can ask questions about the coronavirus in the first language.
UNHCR Cyprus Covid-10/ Coronavirus
The site includes material on how to protect oneself against Covid-19 and to identify Covid-19 symptoms as well as updated information on the lockdown measures in Cyprus specifically. This information is translated into 12 languages including English, Somali, Bengali, Filipino, Georgian, Hindi, Kurmanji, Persian, Sorani, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese. This aims to help with the dissemination of important protection measures amongst migrant groups in Cyprus.
ADMin4All
To raise awareness about COVID-19 among the migrant populations, IOM Italy has produced the following multi-language informative leaflets in 38 languages: Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Bambara, Bengali, Chinese, Edo, English, Esan-Ishan, Farsi, French, Fula, Georgian, German, Hausa, Hindi, Igbo, Italian, Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, Kurdish-Sorani, Lingala, Mandinka, Pashto, Pidgin, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Somali, Soninke, Spanish, Tigrinya, Turkish, Urdu, Wolof and Yoruba.
Spread the news, not the virus!
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, SolidarityNow and pod.gr are joining forces amid the pandemic to overcome language barriers and provide information to refugees and migrants in Greece through podcasts. Podcasts are produced through collaboration between UNHCR, SolidarityNow and pod.gr, the first Greek platform that creates and distributes podcasts. This cooperation aims to ensure ease of access to information about the response to and protection from Covid-19 to non-Greek speaking refugees and migrants. It also aims to disseminate information on the latest official announcements and new state measures, which affect everyone’s daily lives. It should be noted that SolidarityNow and pod.gr have been cooperating since the beginning of the pandemic, with the launch of a podcast series in March. This new, expanded partnership is creating seven informative podcasts. Already, three episodes titled “FAQs for Migrants & Refugees– Spread the News, not the virus” have been released, which focus on these subjects: – Instructions for home care of patients. – How you can protect yourself from Fake News, around the virus. – Gradual ease of lockdown measures.
All podcasts are available in five languages: Arabic, English, Farsi, French and Urdu. Anyone can listen to the episodes, provided they have access to a mobile phone and internet connectivity. Moreover, with a view to safeguard the right of all people to information, even if they have no internet access, SolidarityNow and UNHCR cooperate on the production of a series of radio spots, covering the official state measures against Covid-19. Two radio spots have already been produced on: – State Announcement on the Ease of Coronavirus Restrictions – State Guidance on Worship and Ramadan in the times of the Coronavirus. In addition, UNHCR and SolidarityNow are collaborating on the translation of Coronavirus-related animated GIFs on coronavirus symptoms, use of face masks and social distancing. You can listen to the podcasts here:
At the YouTube channel and the website of SolidarityNow.
At UNHCR’s platform providing information to refugees and asylum seekers.
At the Communicating with Communities inter-agency YouTube channel.
At the website of pod.gr.
Global Humanitarian Response Plan for Covis-19
Description: The Global Humanitarian Response Plan for Covid-19 will be implemented to tackle Covid-19 on a global scale by major UN Agencies (UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, UN Habitat, WHO, etc.) alongside international and local NGO partners.
The following link leads to a downloadable document.
RISE Covid-19 Self- Checker
The Covid-19 Self-Checker developed by the RISE team is intended to assist people in identifying Covid-19 symptoms and understanding when to seek out professional medical assistance. The Self- Checker is based on guidelines and recommendations from WHO, ECDC and the US CDC; it is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, but it is helpful, especially to those who may not have ready access to medical services. The Self-Checker is available in English, Greek and French. For those who do not have a personal physician in the GESY (Cyprus’ National Health Scheme), please contact 1420 if directed to seek health advice by the Self-Checker.
About MIICT
MIICT (ICT Enabled Services for Migration) was conceived with the goal of designing, developing and deploying tools that address the challenge of migrant integration. In service of this goal, the project undertakes to co-create improved ICT-enabled services with migrants, refugees, public sector services, NGOs (Non-Governmental-Organisations) and other interest groups. By involving research-users at the centre of our approach we address the need to improve and customise the interfaces used to access key public services so that they better address the requirements of migrants and refugees.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Coordination & Research and Innovation Action under Grant Agreement No 822380.
Project Office
CENTRIC - Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research
Cantor Building Howard Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 1WB, United Kingdom
centric@shu.ac.uk