Social Distancing in Refugee Shelters?

Situation of Refugees in Germany during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Since the global spread of COVID-19, social distancing as well as infection control and quarantine measures has a significant impact on everyday life. However, these existential protection measures are often not feasible for refugees in refugee shelters.

For years, refugees have been complaining about disastrous hygienic conditions and lack of privacy in refugee shelters. Under such circumstances it is nearly impossible to comply with the additional hygiene measures required in the fully occupied accommodations with shared rooms, communal sanitary facilities and kitchens. There is also a lack of information about the disease, legal regulations and necessary protective measures.

The lack of medical, psychosocial and legal advice aggravates the situation, especially for fundamentally vulnerable groups such as women, children and LGBTIQ persons and for COVID-19 risk groups. This is compounded by inadequate and disproportionate crisis management. Entire shelters are being quarantined. Infected persons are transferred at short notice. Fear and panic are spreading. Instead of receiving information, refugees face massive police operations in response.

Even beyond their accommodation, the pandemic poses problems for refugees and their lawyers when it comes to enforcing their rights.

We would like to discuss all this from the perspective of the people affected, from the perspective of lawyers, and from the perspective of basic and human rights:

Jennifer Kamau, International Women’s Space Berlin

Barbara Wessel, Attorney at Law in Berlin

Sarah Lincoln, Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF)

The discussion will be moderated by Doris Liebscher, research assistant at the Humboldt Law Clinic Basic and Human Rights. The event will be held in English. Questions can be sent to the organizers during the discussion via the chat. Questions can also be asked in German. The discussion takes place online via Zoom and the link to the webinar will be provided at the Facebook Event.

The event is organized by the Humboldt Law Clinic Fundamental and Human Rights, the Chair of Public Law and Gender Studies at Humboldt University and Refugee Law Clinic Berlin.
The event is the start of an online-discussion series „Human Rights and the Corona Virus“ hosted by the Chair of Public Law and Gender Studies at Humboldt University. For further events please check our website: https://www.rewi.hu-berlin.de/de/lf/ls/lbk

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