• Data from the UN refugee agency shows there were 494,649 refugees and asylum seekers in the country as of April 30.
• Studies found women and girls are often exposed to sexual violence and exploitation while walking to shared sanitation facilities or seeking rations.
Image: REUTERS
Fear of stigma prevents refugees from disclosing Covid-19 and other disease symptoms for fear they will be unfairly blamed for infecting the community, the United Nations says.
A new UN report titled 'Justice for women amidst Covid-19' also says the impact of the pandemic is devastating for refugees in fragile settings with weak health systems, weak rule of law and major violence against women and girls.
For many of the 71 million refugees, asylum seekers, or internally displaced in their own countries, half of whom are women and girls, movement restrictions are not new.
The pandemic has led to border closures and restricted migration. The report says these policies have undermined resettlement processes and safe passage for asylum seekers and those migrating for economic reasons.
"This means women and girls fleeing violence and persecution will not be able to leave their countries of origin or enter asylum countries. In other instances, mass quarantine measures, involving confinement are being pursued, placing women and girls at risk of abuse," it says.
The report said asylum seekers face long delays where courts are closed or are being returned to their home countries without being able to argue their claims. This practice may violate the principle of non-refoulment.
Under international human rights law, the principle of non-refoulment guarantees no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading punishment.
The UN refugee agency says there were 494,649 refugees and asylum seekers in the country as of April 30. Fifty-one per cent are men and 49 per cent women.
Forty-four per cent are living in the Dadaab camps in Garissa county, 40 per cent are living in Kakuma refugee camps, while 16 per cent are in urban areas such as Nairobi.
"When the virus hits overcrowded displacement sites, the consequences can be catastrophic, with especially serious risks and repercussions for women and girls," the UN report says.
Risks include poor sanitation that makes handwashing and other hygiene practices difficult. Communal facilities in crisis settings are often shared and distant from residential shelters.
Another challenge is lack of culturally and linguistically accessible information about Covid-19 and how refugees can protect themselves and others.
"Women and girls face high risks of gender-based violence in simply following hand-washing guidance. Earlier studies found women and girls are often exposed to sexual violence and exploitation while walking to shared sanitation facilities," the report reads.
Strategies to help women, such as moving in groups and ensuring adequate female aid staff, have become difficult to continue because of the need to practice Covid-19 social distancing.
Sexual exploitation and abuse can also increase during public health crises and are manifested in the distribution of food, water, shelter, fuel, firewood and cash assistance.
"During the Ebola response in West Africa, a range of actors took advantage of women and girls including taxi drivers, burial teams, and even vaccinators," the report says.
Adolescent girls and those living with disability may face increased risks, given potential shortages of aid and increased difficulties in access due to containment measures.
According to the report, prevention and response to sexual violence must be central to the broader Covid-19 mitigation and response in refugee and internally displaced settings.
Safe spaces must be ensured for women and girls and as well as services in refugee camps and settlements, the report says.
(Edited by V. Graham)