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FMR 64
76 COVID-19: early reflections
www.fmreview.org/issue64 June 2020

possibility of subsequent waves of infections Kate Pincock katepincock@gmail.com
that impede many normal humanitarian Researcher, Gender and Adolescence: Global
operations indefinitely. If new partnerships Evidence (GAGE), ODI www.gage.odi.org
can emerge, the COVID-19 crisis may 1. See Pincock K, Betts A and Easton-Calabria E (2020) The
represent a unique moment of opportunity Global Governed? Refugees as Providers of Protection and Assistance,
to build lasting models of participatory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
and inclusive humanitarian governance. 3 2. See article by Alio, Alrihawi, Milner, Noor, Wazefadost
and Zigashane in this issue. See also recordings of the recent
Alexander Betts alexander.betts@qeh.ox.ac.uk RSC seminar series ‘#ByRefugees: strengthening refugee-led
humanitarian response during the COVID-19 pandemic’
Leopold Muller Professor of Forced Migration and bit.ly/RSC-ByRefugees
International Affairs 3. A version of this article first appeared in The Conversation on 28
April 2020
Evan Easton-Calabria bit.ly/Betts-EastonCalabria-Pincock-Conversation-200428
evan.easton-calabria@qeh.ox.ac.uk See also ‘The Localisation of Humanitarian Assistance as a
Senior Research Officer Refugee Studies Centre, Response to COVID-19’, COVID-19 Watch, Kaldor Centre
bit.ly/Betts-EastonCalabria-Pincock-Kaldor-localisation
University of Oxford www.rsc.ox.ac.uk
By refugees, for refugees: refugee leadership during

COVID-19, and beyond
Mustafa Alio, Shaza Alrihawi, James Milner, Anila Noor, Najeeba Wazefadost and
Pascal Zigashane
The response to COVID-19 calls for meaningful and substantive refugee participation and
leadership.
The speed with which COVID-19 has spread Likewise, in Amman, Jordan, refugees
worldwide has been as extraordinary as previously reliant on access to the informal
the impact it has had on communities. This economy are no longer able to feed their
includes refugee communities, but in very families. Anxiety is high in remote refugee
particular ways. From those in remote and camps, like Kakuma in Kenya, and in
isolated camps, to those living in precarious urban contexts, like Dar es Salaam in
conditions in urban settings, to all whose Tanzania, due to a lack of information,
movement has been blocked by the closing basic sanitation or any capacity to respond
of borders and increased State controls, to the pandemic. And UNHCR has issued
1
scores of refugees have been significantly guidelines in response to the particular
2
affected both by the arrival of the virus and challenges it expects will be faced by refugee
by State policies implemented in response. women, older persons, survivors of gender-
In April 2020 the Global Refugee- based violence, children, youth, persons
led Network (GRN) hosted a virtual with disabilities and LGBTI persons.
international conference involving more Clearly, there is a need for urgent action
than 100 refugee leaders. Participants for refugees. But equally important is the
shared how refugees have been excluded need to recognise, support and amplify the
from health-care systems in hard-hit action already being undertaken by refugees.
countries like Iran, how the shutdown
of the economy in Uganda has made Providing support, filling gaps
previously self-reliant refugees destitute Refugee leaders and refugee-led
and desperate, and how asylum seekers organisations have mobilised to provide
in Greece remain in cramped conditions support and essential information in
ripe for the rapid spread of the virus. response to the pandemic within their