Refugees and displaced persons should not be left out from national relief packages and social programs, including COVID-19 immunization when a vaccine becomes available, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th December, 2020) Refugees and displaced persons should not be left out from national relief packages and social programs, including COVID-19 immunization when a vaccine becomes available, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Friday.
"What is needed here is to ensure that these populations are included in the social safety nets and big economic relief packages that are being rolled out. I am particularly worried about refugees because as non-nationals in the countries where they find themselves, they risk being excluded at that particular point," Grandi said.
According to the official, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the World food Program and UNICEF are doing their best to support displaced persons via their cash programs and humanitarian relief.
"The same is, by the way, valid when vaccines will be available. It is important that these categories of people are also included, and I know that this is probably more politically difficult and economically difficult, but I will continue to advocate that and I am advocating now," Grandi added.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a particularly strong negative effect on refugee populations worldwide, the UNHCR said in November. Many government stopped resettlement programs during the pandemic, which resulted in asylum seekers crowding camps with little to no amenities for proper social distancing. If government fail to take in more refugees before the year-end, 2020 will become the year of lowest refugee resettlement level in history, the agency said.
