At least three in four countries – home to 91 percent of the global population – have imposed partial or complete border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and roughly one in two human beings is living under lockdown as governments try to slow the spread of the virus. While perhaps necessary from a public health standpoint, the limitations on movement make it more difficult for people fleeing wars and persecution to access protection, and raise pressing questions about what special steps governments need to take to safeguard asylum seekers and irregular migrants in these unusual times. But migration policy experts also warn that some governments are taking advantage of the crisis to push through legally dubious, hardline migration policies that can’t be justified by public health concerns and that could stay in place long after the COVID-19 outbreaks subside – in particular, ending or curtailing access to asylum. “You do absolutely have some governments who have exploited the situa...

Around the world, 79.5 million people have been forcibly displaced. That’s the most since World War II, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Since most people remain displaced within their home country, how many refugees are there in the world? About 26 million people worldwide have fled to other countries as refugees. Another 4.2 million people have applied for refugee status, but not received it yet. More than half of refugees are children. In 2018, 11 million people were newly displaced, either as refugees or internally displaced people. Now, it’s unknown how border closings and travel restrictions due to COVID-19 will affect the number of new refugees in the world. Conflict and insecurity in other countries, including Iraq, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Myanmar have also caused millions to flee their homes. Here are top seven countries of origin that account for the most refugees in the world today. About two-thirds of today’s refugees (68%) come from the ...

  In a continued effort to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), countries have been tightening borders and putting travel restrictions in place. These actions have affected refugees and migrants worldwide. The International Organization for Migration and UNHCR announced on March 10, 2020, that resettlement travel for refugees will be temporarily suspended, although the agencies have appealed to states to ensure emergency cases are exempted.1 The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted some countries to take steps towards further reducing population movement that affects humanitarian corridors around the world.  At the same time, there could be cases of refoulement with asylum seekers being returned to their countries of origin, where they are at risk of persecution and in an apparent breach of international law. As of March 29, 2020, WHO reported 146 countries and territories with cases of COVID-19 from local transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavi...