Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Press Release
As part of The Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue’s follow-up on the humanitarian situation of refugees in various countries, the Forum monitored on Tuesday the infection of 130 refugees with the new Covid-19 virus at a refugee shelter in St. Augustine, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
This is not the first time that refugees have been reported infected in Germany, for example, in The State of North Rhine-Westphalia alone, 50 refugees have been confirmed infected in a shelter in the city of Euskirchen, 30 refugees at the Mettmann shelter near Düsseldorf, the state capital, and 40 refugees in a major shelter in Bonn. In addition to the tens of infections among refugees in other states. In an earlier statement, the Forum called on Germany and the European Union to shoulder their moral and humanitarian responsibility in providing assistance to refugees, especially children, after they were expelled from their shelter camps in Turkey towards their border with EU countries and had their position complicated due to the Corona pandemic.
Due to the absence of humanity and Turkey’s violation of its international commitments to refugees it has pledged to protect after fleeing the battlefields in Syria, the Forum called for the protection of these children. It has additionally called on Germany and EU countries to act and submit a specific plan to secure the lives of these children in accordance with the rights of the child.
The Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue praised the position of Switzerland, which has received a group of stranded minor refugees working to prevent a humanitarian disaster in refugee camps due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. The group received by Switzerland consists of 18 boys and five girls between the ages of 10 and 17-year-old, from Afghanistan and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This operation is a part of Switzerland’s support to the Greek authorities and the Swiss authorities have pledged 1.1 million francs in emergency assistance for projects benefiting children and adolescents in refugee camps in the Greek Aegean islands.
The foundation reiterates its demand that EU countries take responsibility for refugees on the Greek islands and provide maximum protection against the spread of the Coronavirus.
