COVID-19 IMPACTS ON IMMIGRATION DETENTION: GLOBAL RESPONSES
Source: IOM DTM Detention Centre Profile Generator (2020).
The overcrowding in many detention facilities in Libya – which already
undermines hygiene, health, safety, and human dignity – within the
COVID-19 context has posed additional challenges. Migrants deprived
of their liberty are de facto unable to respect distancing measures to
protect themselves from contracting the virus27. Further, detainees’
weak nutritional status and severe medical conditions, including
tuberculosis, put them at greater risk of contracting COVID-1928.
In June and July 2020, more than 100 migrants and refugees rescued
at sea after departing Libya tested positive for COVID-19, prompting
concerns that the virus could be spreading among refugees and
migrants in Libya29. Further, this heightens the risk of xenophobia and
intolerance towards migrants, increasingly perceived as responsible
for the spread of the virus. Misperceptions that migrants are vectors of
communicable diseases are widespread even among health workers.
This may result in additional limitations in accessing basic services,
including health services30.
To conclude, COVID-19 and measures to contain its spread have
taken a high toll on migrants and refugees in Libya. Besides direct
health-related concerns because of specific vulnerable conditions,
the pandemic is also having the two-fold adverse effect of disrupting
employment opportunities in an already fragile context and exposing
migrants to heightened risk of detention and abuse.
GABRIELE RESTELLI
Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester
LINDA COTTONE
PhD Candidate
Public International Law and International Relations
Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB)
27 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2020). COVID-19 and its human rights dimensions.
28 United Nations Security Council (2020). Implementation of resolution 2491 (2019). Report of the Secretary-General S/2020/876..
29 Ibid.
30 IOM (2020). Facts about Migration in Libya.
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