This archive report was first published on 19 June 2020.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is urging governments and businesses to do more to integrate refugees into the economy and prevent them from falling through the cracks.
According to new figures released by the UNHCR, the global refugee population has risen to nearly 30 million people, almost twice the number a decade ago. Refugees have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, with many losing their jobs and income sources.
"When the lockdown occurred, we saw very, very quickly that refugees... lost their jobs," said Gillian Triggs, the UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, during an online discussion hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Triggs noted that half of refugees in Lebanon and Colombia have lost their income source, and almost two-thirds of recently settled refugees in the United States may have lost their jobs. The pandemic has also increased xenophobia and discrimination, leading to a big rise in evictions.
Triggs emphasized the importance of including refugees in national health systems, not just for their own safety but for everyone's. "If one person is sick with COVID, we all are," she added.
Some businesses are already taking action to help refugees, including electronics giant Philips in the Netherlands, which is supporting an initiative hiring refugees to produce masks from filter material used in its vacuum cleaner bags. Philips is producing 150,000 masks a week.
Gideon Maltz, executive director of the Tent Partnership for Refugees, comprising more than 100 major companies, urged governments to use taxes and other incentives to encourage businesses to employ refugees. Maltz suggested the European Union could give Turkey preferential access for its agricultural products if it helped Syrian refugees to work in the sector.
Maya Ghazal, a Syrian refugee who hopes to become the first female Syrian refugee pilot, shared her personal experience of facing negative stereotypes about refugees. "I was told I was not smart enough to sit in an English classroom," she said. "It's important to give people a chance."
