Watch now | Refugee rights and protection during COVID-19: hard lessons & concrete actions

What have we learned about protecting refugee rights in the midst of a global pandemic? Have we lived up to core obligations and commitments, and have we applied lessons from previous crises and epidemics? 

On July 8 UNHCR, the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition and ALNAP hosted a high-level learning event.

Speakers included Gillian Triggs, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and Susanna Moorehead, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Co-chairs were joined by a panel of experts who shared insights and lessons on how to improve protection and respond to COVID-19 while respecting refugee rights and international law. 
 
The discussion highlighted findings, lessons and recommendations from a global evaluation under the auspices of the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition, managed by UNHCR, and the Governments of Finland, Uganda and Colombia and ALNAP. This innovative learning initiative looked at what has worked to protect refugee rights and improve COVID-19 responses, and what the international community and states must do differently going forward.

Read the full evaluation and summary here. 

Learn more about the evaluation reference group and read the Co-chair's bios here.

Event moderator: Jessica Alexander, Independent humanitarian consultant

Panel speakers:

• Najeeba Wazefadost, President of Hazara Women of Australia
• William Chemaly, Senior Global Protection Cluster Coordinator 
• Manisha Thomas, Geneva Representative, Women's Refugee Commission
• Claus Lindroos, Deputy Director General of the Department for Africa and the Middle East, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland 
• Kareen Jabre, Director of the Division of Programmes, Inter Parliamentary Union