Co-organised by the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and ICMPD, hosted by the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, a high-level virtual meeting took place entitled "The Situation of Refugees and Other Displaced Persons during the Pandemic: The Need for International Cooperation".
The COVID-19 pandemic has the world facing one of the worst global health and economic crises in modern times. While even the most developed countries face tremendous challenges to cope with the disease the situation of refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and stateless persons deserves particular attention. This event was organised to extend the dialogue among refugee hosting countries, the UN, the European Union and international organisations to analyse the effects of the pandemic on refugees and other displaced persons and to explore the potential areas of international cooperation needed to mitigate the impact on these populations.
The participant list included: (H.E.) Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey(H.E.) Mr. Ayman Safadi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 1(H.E.) Mr. Fuad Hussein, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Repuplic of Iraq(H.E) Mr. Nassif Hitti, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of Lebanese Republic(H.E.) Mr. Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan(H.E.) Ms. Ylva Johansson, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs(H.E.) Mr. Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(H.E.) Ms. Karin Kneissl, Ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria(H.E.) Ms. Zsuzsanna Jakab, Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization The moderators were: (H.E.) Michael Spindelegger, Director General, ICMPD and (H.E.) Murat Karagöz, Ambassador, Director General for Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Co-Coordinator of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.
There is an urgent need to devise policies and practices to protect refugees and displaced persons from the long-term economic impacts of the pandemic and promote their resilience. Host countries need to implement efficient measures to prevent the spreading of the virus among these vulnerable groups. As the impact of the pandemic goes beyond the boundaries of countries, extending the cooperation between countries to deliver comprehensive responses is key, as all participants have emphasised.