Migrant communities globally bore the brunt of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) this week.
“Throughout this pandemic, those facing the greatest vulnerabilities have been the people and groups most neglected by society – those who were already drowning just below the surface,” the report stated.
But the vulnerability of migrant communities hits closer to home - within Australia’s borders.
The Red Cross research revealed that 83 per cent of migrants under their aid in Australia were seeking emergency relief to meet their basic food needs, as of October 2021.
Eighty-six per cent of temporary visa holders were also at risk of homelessness, requiring a desperate need of financial assistance to maintain stable accommodation - a sharp rise of 36 per cent since July 2020.
Nicole Hoagland, senior adviser at the Red Cross Global Migration Lab, spearheaded the research, and she says migrants in Australia fell through the cracks during the pandemic outbreak.
“[Migrants] have often been the first to lose their jobs or their livelihoods, but often the last to be eligible for or included in socio-economic support policies,” she told SBS News.
Nicole Hoagland is the senior adviser at the Red Cross Global Migration Lab. Source: Supplied/Nicole Hoagland
She said the isolation of migrants during the pandemic was partly due to existing policies that prevented them from being eligible for government support.
“Many of us have had the support or access to mainstream safety nets, and often migrants have not had the same access,” she said.
But other reasons behind migrants’ increased difficulties were more indirect, particularly for those of lower socio-economic backgrounds and those living in the community without valid visas.
“[There is] the fear of coming forward to access support and assistance because your migration status might be reported to the authorities,” she said.
The pandemic also forced many services to shift to the digital world - a medium that some migrants were unable to access due to language and financial barriers.
“These barriers existed before the pandemic and the research has shown that they've been amplified … These barriers create even further barriers to the socio-economic recovery of migrants during the pandemic.”
The research comes as most of Australia slowly begins to recover from severe COVID-19 outbreaks, where in particular it ravaged suburbs in NSW and Victoria that had a high number of migrants affected by strict lockdowns.
But while the country’s second wave of the pandemic seems to be an issue of the past, the report calls on leaders to engage with migrant community leaders to ensure those most vulnerable are supported in the event another pandemic emerges.
“Policies and decisions can't be made in isolation, they need to be made based on the evidence and based on communication and coordination with migrants and people directly impacted by migration and directly impacted by COVID-19,” Ms Hoagland said.
“We should never again leave so many millions of people vulnerable … we will never truly be able to say that this pandemic is over if the socioeconomic harms are not addressed,” the report stated.
“That means operating multi-pronged programmes that help communities build their resilience.”
