Dr KIM LAMONT-MBAWULI

The world is experiencing unprecedented existential crisis. We living in a moment of global entanglement comprised of escalations and accelerations such as accelerated mobility both of goods, ideas and information and people. As a result COVID-19 virus resulted in a global crisis. According to Dr Eric Makoni, the traveller or globe trotter is always on the move has defined by the moment of global entanglement. Of which the intensification thereof has resulted in the escalated movement of the virus.

Unfortunately, there are skewed power relations there is easier movement for some than others. Regrettably the darker side of modernity are those that are exposed to a low socioeconomic status such as migrants. The precariat move is driven by hunger, poverty, wars, unemployment and natural disasters from one area in search of greener pastures.

According, to Boaventura de Sousa Santos the large Majority of the world’s population is not the subject of human rights. They are rather the object of human rights and discourses. On the other hand, various laws that govern mobility of the poor, have frequently resulted in their confinement and poverty. In some instances, it has rendered them permanent wanderers, refugees, and immigrants.

MIGRATION

According to Tapiwa Diamond, migration involves the movement of people from place to place either internally within one country or sometimes from country to country. Migration has an effect on human capital on both individual and household level. It is deeply embedded in rational policy calculations, entrenched political position, impassioned public debate and the subject of emotive narratives and personal stories. It is inherently political it is the human costs of conflict and perilous journeys in search of safety. There is a plethora of compelling factors that
push people to migrate, with a clear dream of something better, something more attractive, a mirage of a better and safer future. If considered carefully it means that the migrant journeys are path unknown for a better tomorrow.

FORCIBLY DISPLACED

Forced displacement (also referred to as forced migration) is the involuntary or compelled movement of people away from their home or region. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines
‘forced displacement’ more narrowly as: displaced “as a consequence of persecution, conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations”.

Subsequently, resulting in acquired vulnerabilities that are specific to them, including catastrophic losses of assets or trauma. It perpetuates the vicious circle wherein there is a lack of economic opportunities, and it traps them in poverty. These vulnerabilities set them apart from other poor people in the communities where they live, broad-based poverty reduction efforts may not suffice to relieve their plight and special interventions are needed. To sustain host communities, development actors should help manage the shock caused by an inflow of forcibly
displaced persons. The arrival of large numbers of people in specific locales creates both risks and opportunities. In most situations, it transforms the environment for designing and implementing poverty reduction programs. In some exceptional cases, it creates new dynamics for the entire country and national development strategies have to be adjusted accordingly. In addition to this pandemics like COVID 19 have exacerbated crisis situation for migrants

According to the IOM there are 272 million international migrants worldwide are more vulnerable than others because of personal, social, situational and structural factors. Persons displaced internally and across borders are particularly at risk.

IMPACT ON MOBILITY

With measures introduced by governments to ‘flatten the curve’ of infections, the COVID-19 pandemic is already greatly impacting mobility and migration. Travel restrictions were passed to contain the virus, including by prohibiting entry of residents from other countries, and some countries have closed their borders entirely. Labour migration has been temporarily suspended in some countries while, in others, migration processing and assistance to asylum seekers are being slowed down. These mobility restrictions and concerns over exposing refugees to
the novel Coronavirus have forced the International Organization for Migration and the United High Commissioner for Refugees to temporarily suspend refugees’ resettlement travels.

Refugees often settle into host communities which are among the poorest in their countries or in remote or border areas, where residents are already struggling to obtain jobs and adequate public services. While some migrants may be healthier than their receiving community, others have health vulnerabilities which can be due to; socioeconomic status; being in crowded or otherwise suboptimal environments; restriction to eligibility or access to services, including health services as a result of the  migration status; or cultural-linguistic barriers or access to health information.

IMPACT ON MIGRANT CHILDREN

According UNICEF analysis based on United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, migrant and displaced children are among the most vulnerable populations on the globe. In 2019, around 33 million children were living outside of their country of birth, including many who were forcibly displaced across borders. At the end of 2018, a total of over 31 million children were living in forced displacement in their own country or abroad due to violence and conflict. This includes some 13 million child refugees, around 1 million asylum-seeking children, and an estimated  17 million children displaced within their own countries.

It is estimated that 3.7 million children live in refugee camps or collective centres. Further to this COVID-19 threatens to bring even more uncertainty and harm to their lives. A UNICEF study titled, “Steps Up COVID-19 Preparedness, Prevention, and Response Measures” demonstrated that almost 4 in 10 children and young people on the move do not have access to facilities to properly wash themselves in countries like Somalia, Ethiopia and the Sudan. Notwithstanding the fact that half of those respondents were aged between 14–24 years in a UNICEF poll and
self-identified as migrants and refugees and further indicated that they did not see a doctor when needed.

This has become a harsh reality for many children around the world. Children in situations like these may face the added risk of being detained by immigration authorities, potentially exposing them to violence, abuse or exploitation. Migrant and displaced children across contexts are at risk of missing out on accurate public health information, due to language barriers or simply being cut off from communication networks. Undocumented children living in foreign countries may fear contact with public authorities. Meanwhile, misinformation on the spread of COVID-19 has exacerbated the xenophobia and discrimination that migrant and displaced children and their families face.

IMPACT ON HEALTH

The lack of or inappropriate health insurance, often coupled to insufficient financial resources, may negatively impact migrants. Undocumented migrants can find it more difficult to access care, as outside activity needs to be registered with authorities or they may be reluctant to enter medical facilities for fear of being reported if no appropriate firewalls exist regarding data sharing with the immigration and law enforcement authorities.

• Crowded living environments may also affect the implementation of preventive measures such as social distancing.
• This is for instance the case for undocumented migrants in administrative detention, refugees in camps or migrant workers in highly populated migrant camps.

VACCINE ROLL OUT AND MIGRANTS

COVID-19 vaccine distribution has begun, and U.S. refugee, immigrant, and migrant (RIM) populations, who are dis-proportionately affected by COVID-19, face well-known barriers to vaccination. If not addressed, these barriers likely will result in a lost opportunity to save lives. The recent report from the National Academies Press, Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine (Framework), offers specific and helpful recommendations for conducting an equitable vaccine campaign, although implementation thereof remains.

Migrants in SA particularly undocumented are concerned about not being vaccinate. The vaccine is being rolled out to health workers. What’s required when you receive the shot; is to show that you have got an ID. For those who are
undocumented the documentation process make it difficult to obtain a vaccination. Albeit it has been explicitly stated that all adults, regardless of their documentation will receive the vaccine– irrespective of nationality or residence status – would receive the vaccine during the roll-out because “it is in the best interests of all that as many of us receive the vaccine as possible”.

However, Migrants have said that there is a lack of clarity in terms of how the vaccine roll out will be undertaken because of the systemic Xenophobia or uneasiness when providing health care to non-citizens. In a recent study, published in Plos one, in December on healthcare providers and migrants accessing medical services in Gauteng, respondents/Participants in the study reported that they had witnessed discrimination and differential treatment when it came to migrants.

In Conclusion

In this age of global entanglement, Covid has made us realise inter alia the following;

1) we are not invincible.

2) we need each other as human beings.

3) we need to respect the natural environment all the people in it.

4) when fully understand the spirit of Ubuntu and solidarity that another world is possible – and it must be realised.

This new world must be predicated on common humanity, respect of the spirit-world, respect for the (non-human world), and the centering of knowledge’s marginalised by global capitalism. After all, there is only one earth
that we all live in.

A U T H O R  S H O R T  B I O

Dr Kim Lamont-Mbawuli is the CEO of Simanye Clinic, Head of Litigation at Ebi Okeng Attorneys Inc, Chief Legal Officer at Alternative Energy and Chairperson for Pan African Network for Investment and Development. During the period between 2007 to 2012 she completed her Honours in Human Biology, MSc in Medicine (Med) and PhD (Med). In 2015, she completed an MPhil in Intellectual Property Law. In 2019 she graduated with her LLB at Unisa, she completed her Practical legal training with LEAD and was Admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa. She is an Attorney at Law/General Practitioner.

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