Migrants in North Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic Retour vers l'agenda

Language : English

Camille Denis (GADEM Morocco)

Sofian Philip Naceur (Independent Journalist)

Hela Kanakane (Alarmphone Tunisia)

Sara Creta (Independent Journalist)

Moderation: Ines Mahmoud (RLS North Africa), Azza Falfoul (Alarmphone Tunisia)

Migrants and refugees in camps and detention facilities during the COVID-19 crisis are hit specifically hard by the recent situation. The efforts for physical distancing are crucial in preventing the virus from spreading in densely populated areas. Furthermore, sanitary measures such as washing hands or measures of wearing face masks have within the past weeks become obligatory in most countries around the world. In camps and detention facilities however, not only in the global South, the implementation of these measures is often not possible for migrants and refugees.

In Greece, after European public campaign #leavenoonebehind demanding the evacuation of overcrowded camps on the Greek islands, public health authorities have locked down two migrant camps after residents tested positive for COVID-19. In Tunisia, recently a hunger strike of migrants in detention facility Ouardia ended, after authorities met some of the demands of migrants living in the center. The 31 migrants went on strike on the 6th of April to protest the insufficient medical attention and protective measures implemented amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The poor sanitary conditions in detention facility Ouardia have also before the COVID-19 outbreak been documented and highlighted in a report published by the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights, which also recently published a national statement, urging the Tunisian government to provide safety measures for migrants and refugees in the country.

Despite the WHO declaring the situation a global pandemic, detention facilities and camps in North Africa, from Morocco, Algeria to Tunisia and Libya, remain operating, without providing sufficient sanitary and physical distancing measures for detained refugees, risking a fast spread of the virus in camps and detention facilities and putting the lives of the detained in danger.

In this webinar, activists and journalists from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya will speak about the situation of migrants and refugees during the COVID-19 crisis in their respective country as well as the necessity to provide safe conditions for detained migrants and refugees, in compliance with the measures imposed on citizens, globally.

This webinar will be live-streamed on the facebook page of Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – North Africa. There will be the possibility to ask questions to panelists via the comment section.