Practical Recommendations and Good Practice to Address Protection Concerns in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is presenting States in Europe with an extraordinary and unprecedented public health emergency. In response, States are taking necessary and legitimate measures to prevent the spread of the virus and to protect their populations. Some of these measures have been taken within the framework of a declared state of emergency, based on specific national provisions governing emergency situations. In response to the exceptional nature of the current crisis and the related challenges faced by States, this paper aims to offer Governments a set of practical considerations and concrete advice to enable an effective response to the pandemic while at the same time respecting international refugee law and standards. 1 These considerations and advice also apply to stateless populations in relation to access to documentation or statelessness determination procedures