COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate
From “Monica Burns, Freedom United” [email protected]
| For another year running, you may have found yourself making sacrifices to keep others safe over the holidays: air hugs, pre-meet testing, cutting back on social events… Sound familiar? With the threat of new variants spreading across the globe and more restrictions being implemented, we’re all working hard to protect each other so we can hang up our masks for good as soon as possible. Governments have been reacting to this crisis with varying degrees of success. But they are almost all failing to effectively extend support and protection to all migrants and trafficking survivors. |
| Demand action |
| Solid evidence has emerged revealing a hard truth: countless trafficking survivors and at-risk migrants have been excluded from healthcare, government support, testing and vaccination around the world during the pandemic. This exclusion has come in different forms. For example, undocumented people in Hungary have been unable to get vaccinated because they lack a social security number.[1] In the United Kingdom, where undocumented people, including many trafficking survivors, were technically eligible for COVID-19 treatment and vaccinations, some people were being wrongfully turned away from registering with local general practice surgeries.[2] Cases like these, coupled with hostile immigration policies, deter others from attempting to access these services due to fear of detention and deportation.[3] |
| Call for change |
| People with an insecure migration status have also been disproportionately affected by the economic repercussions of the pandemic. Many who were previously in informal work were dismissed suddenly and received no government support on the back of their dismissal.[4] Faced with unemployment and no source of income, they were often driven into extremely exploitative work arrangements, sometimes amounting to forced labor. Many laid-off migrant workers, including survivors of forced labor and trafficking, were also left stranded abroad with no income due to travel restrictions, leaving them in abject poverty and exacerbating previous debt burdens.[5] Before COVID-19, trafficking survivors and at-risk migrants were already being detained and forced to live in deplorable conditionsaround the world. Their situation was worsened with the onset of the pandemic. Can you imagine trying to avoid infection when living in an overcrowded migrant camp or detention center with limited access to hygiene facilities and medical attention? Meanwhile, lockdowns trapped many live-in migrant domestic workers behind closed doors with abusive employers.[6] |
| Sign the petition |
This desperate state of affairs is why we’re urging governments around the world to protect everyone from the effects of COVID-19, especially the most vulnerable. That means, regardless of people’s migration status, they should be able to:
- Access healthcare, testing and vaccinations
- Receive government welfare and unemployment support
- Get work and residency permits
- Live free from fear of evictions, detention and deportation
| These measures are crucial to ensure trafficking survivors are able to recover from their experiences and avoid being re-trafficked, and at-risk migrants are not forced by economic necessity to undertake exploitative work that could amount to modern slavery. We need united and inclusive action to get through this pandemic. The virus doesn’t discriminate by migration status, so healthcare, protection and support shouldn’t either. We won’t leave survivors of modern slavery behind. Sign the petition today. |
| Raise your voice |
In solidarity,
Monica
| Monica Burns Freedom United Campaigner |
