{"id":344,"date":"2020-12-22T11:30:59","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T09:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/?p=344"},"modified":"2023-12-08T18:41:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T16:41:52","slug":"when-staying-at-home-is-no-longer-an-option-forced-displacement-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/2020\/12\/22\/when-staying-at-home-is-no-longer-an-option-forced-displacement-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"When Staying at Home is No Longer an Option: Forced Displacement Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

22.12.2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Russell Harpring, PhD Candidate at the HUMLOG Institute <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cQu\u00e9date en casa\u201d, or \u201cStay at home\u201d, is the mantra of the information campaign led by the Mexican Government to curb the COVID-19 infection rates. In Mexico, over 1.1 million COVID-19 cases<\/a> have been confirmed, with an estimated 127,000 deaths as of December 2020. Masks are required in public spaces, hand and shoe sanitizer is given at the entrance to any building, signs to remind people to respect social distancing are everywhere. The Secretary of Health advocates<\/a> that, \u201cif we can isolate the virus, we can beat it\u201d. But for families and refugees with greater threats than COVID-19, remaining at home is not always an option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: UNHCR @ Ritzau Scanpix<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Throughout\nLatin America, borders have been closed and movement restricted. Though the\nreality is that a large percentage of the Latin American population lives on\ndaily wages. This creates a contradiction: leave home to earn a living wage, or\n\u201cqu\u00e9date en casa\u201d to protect against the virus but forego an income to buy\nfood, water, and other basic needs. In this light, despite the pandemic, asylum\nseekers from Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela have continued\nto arrive at the Mexican border. For many, Mexico is a transit country on the\nway to the United States. For others, Mexico is the destination country. For\nthe Mexican Government, this has created a dilemma: how do you protect public\nhealth while also allowing refugees to seek asylum in the country? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is\nnot an easy one to address. Violence\nspikes in Latin America<\/a>, fueled by drug trafficking and high rates of\npoverty, force thousands to flee from their homes each year. Typically, when migrants\ncross the border into Mexico, they must be held at a detention center until\ntheir identity and refugee status can be verified. The detention centers are often\ncrowded with limited facilities, which created concerns when the COVID-19\npandemic started. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To tackle this\nproject, Mexico\u2019s refugee office, COMAR (Comisi\u00f3n Mexicana de Ayuda a\nRefugiados), has teamed up with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. One of the first\nsolutions was to expand the number of registration centers and allow for remote\nprocessing of information. Now, instead of centralized locations for\nregistration and sheltering, there are over 100\nvarious shelters throughout Mexico<\/a>. While this has helped maintain social\ndistancing guidelines, it has also created a logistical challenge to distribute\nsupplies throughout the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When COVID-19\nbegan amplifying in Mexico, shortages of personal protection items (PPE) such\nas masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer began to occur. Like much of the global\nsupply chain for these items, demand spiked, and supply lagged behind. Procuring\nthese items became a challenge for UNHCR, facing shortages and long lead times\nfrom global suppliers. Then there was the problem of importing items and\ndistributing to over 100 locations for beneficiaries throughout the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the\ncommercial sector began to restock PPE items, the supply team made a critical\ndecision to rethink the way items with fragile supply chains are procured and\ndelivered to beneficiaries. Instead of lengthy global supply chains, the supply\nteam began focusing strategically on local procurement and delivery services. These\npartnerships provide the opportunity to be more agile and communicate directly\nwith suppliers. Soon, the problem of delivering numerous and various supplies\nto over 100 locations became manageable and traceable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition,\nUNHCR in the Americas is using cash-based\ninterventions (CBIs) to provide another form of assistance and protection\nto persons of concern. CBIs involve the use of cash transfers to beneficiaries\nso they may decide and prioritize their needs such as food, rent, and basic\ncommodities, then purchase what is needed accordingly. A major function of CBIs\nin Mexico is to provide beneficiaries the ability to rent a flat or property,\nrather than stay in a camp or settlement. This helps them to \u201cquedarse en casa\u201d\nand keep a safe social distance, as the government recommends. In this way, the\norganization offers social protection and inclusion for persons who may be\nwithout a social safety net and vulnerable to COVID-19. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world is in\nthe middle of another spike in COVID-19 cases. While supply chains remain\nvulnerable to disruptions for high demand items, humanitarian organizations are\nadapting to the current situation and providing flexible modes of support to\nthose who are most vulnerable. A consortium of humanitarian organizations in\nMexico, led by UNHCR, plan to expand CBI coverage throughout the country to\nreach even more beneficiaries. Agencies such as UNHCR are used to operating in\ncomplex and difficult situations, and while COVID-19 is a new situation, it is being\ndealt with in the same manner as all humanitarian emergencies \u2013 with an intent\nto utilize all available resources to meet the needs at hand of the people they\nwork with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell Harpring is a PhD student at the\nHanken School of Economics and is currently conducting research with UNHCR in\nMexico related to cash-based interventions, local procurement, and coordination\nfor last-mile delivery. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer: the views expressed\nherein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of\nthe United Nations. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

22.12.2020 By Russell Harpring, PhD Candidate at the HUMLOG Institute \u201cQu\u00e9date en casa\u201d, or \u201cStay at home\u201d, is the mantra of the information campaign led by the Mexican Government to […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/humlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}