IASC Key Protection Advocacy Messages - COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating protection concerns in humanitarian crises and exposing vulnerable populations to new threats. Protection clusters are reporting an increase in cases of violence, including a ‘shadow pandemic’ of Gender Based violence (GBV), forced displacement, a rise in xenophobia and stigmatization, alongside discrimination in access to health, food, water, education and legal services for vulnerable and marginalized groups. In the face of the largest economic shock the world has experienced in decades, some of the most vulnerable communities are now forced to resort to adverse survival strategies, with limited safe alternatives.

The following messages are based on protection concerns reported through the national protection clusters.  Their objective is to inform on key protection issues related to or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and to suggest how these protection issues could be addressed through collective advocacy.