PROTECTION NOTE Access to territory and asylum 1 Thirteen countries in West and Central Africa have officially announced the closure of all land borders2, while others have adopted a less systematic approach. If Benin has decided to limit land entries and exits to the “absolute necessity” for “essential” crossings and “cordons sanitaires”, Chad has ordered the closure of land borders with the Central African Republic and Sudan only. Senegal closed its borders with The Gambia and Mauritania, while the Central African Republic has not adopted any measure relating to the closure of land borders. No references are made in these measures to the situation of asylum-seekers and refugees. However, Côte d’Ivoire mentions the creation of “humanitarian corridors” as an exception to border closures with the aim to “provide support to individuals or communities in urgent need of assistance”, while the Central African Republic and Guinea refer to humanitarian flights as an exception of the suspension of air travels. Practice in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region shows that border crossings at informal points are common and borders are porous. On 22 March 2020, despite the official closure of Malian borders, the Mali Minister for Public Health observed that crossborder movements were still taking place on the ground, including between Mali and Burkina Faso3. No cases of refoulement of persons of concern to UNHCR in connection with the COVID-19 emergency has been reported by UNHCR or partners. However, border monitoring activities have been impacted by movement restrictions and some key border areas were already out of reach due to ongoing armed conflicts. As of the end of March 2020, registration of asylumseekers has been halted in Benin, Guinea Bissau and Nigeria and restricted to the urban area in Chad and to critical cases only in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Senegal and Togo. Processes through which States determine whether a person seeking international protection is considered a refugee continue in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Liberia, Mali and Togo. Critical cases only are being examined in Chad and Ghana. Overall, access to asylum procedures is expected to be further indirectly hindered as a result of the growing impact of confinement measures. Response • • • • • Advocacy based on UNHCR Key Legal Considerations on access to territory for persons in need of international protection in the context of the COVID-19 response; Support to Governments to establish health prevention and response mechanisms/facilities in strategic border zones; Establishment of hotlines accessible to partners to raise any protection issue, including at border points, in the countries covered by UNHCR’s Multi-Country Office (MCO) in Senegal; Development with partners of a regional protection monitoring tool with a view to collect and analyze information in the context of a lockdown; Support to Governments in the establishment of remote interviewing in the context of refugee status determination. A specific focus is made on measures relating to land borders as the vast majority of refugees registered in West Africa originate from the region itself, showing the importance of land movements for asylum-seekers and refugees. At the end of 2018, over 78% of the refugees registered in West Africa were from within the ECOWAS region. For reasons linked to geography, Cabo Verde and São Tomé and Pr íncipe have not taken any measure related to land borders. 2 Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, The Gambia, Niger, Nigeria, Togo and Sierra Leone 3 RFI, « Coronavirus: au Mali, les autorités déplorent la perméabilité des frontières », 24/03/20, http://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20200324coronavirus-mali-autorit%C3%A9s-d%C3%A9plorent-perm%C3%A9abilit%C3%A9-fronti%C3%A8res 1 www.unhcr.org 2