In Europe, countries such as Austria, with a long track record of harsh anti-migration policies, have frozen the right to asylum using Covid-19 as justification.
Not only have migrant rights been curtailed but also blame is falling on them, with an increase in xenophobia because migrants are framed as carriers of the disease and maligned by politicians and media alike.
In Guangzhou in China, African migrants have been subjugated to evictions, harassment and forced quarantines, because of coronavirus fears, fuelled by a deep well of racism – this has sparked outrage and anger in Africa.
The majority of migration in Africa is intra-continental – Zimbabweans in South Africa, South Sudanese refugees in Uganda to workers from Burkina Faso in Ivory Coast.
South Africa has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Africa and it is also a regional magnet for millions of migrants.
It has been the government’s long-standing objective to reduce migration, and it seized the opportunity provided by the pandemic to build a border fence with Zimbabwe. There is a danger that Covid-19 will do long-term damage to migrant rights, as states continue to adopt inward-looking policies to try and keep out not only people seeking better economic opportunities in Europe, but also those fleeing political persecution.
