Widening of the Gap between Urban Refugees and Citizens of the Nation due to Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

For most people, the term ‘refugee’ still conjures up images of endless rows of white tents spread out on a dusty field. However, this picture no longer tells the full story of life for refugees in the 21st Century. The jurisprudential aspect has developed over time, and now the term has various attributes, one being, the urban refugee. The growing number of urban refugees in many areas of the world present UNHCR offices with the difficult task of coping with a population that is often widely dispersed, undirected, unemployed and in several instances, whose basic needs for counselling, care and assistance cannot reasonably be met. Although, the migration of refugees towards urban is a natural phenomenon, in most of the situations they merely add on to the number of urban destitute who is a citizen of that area; the said position of the urban refugees coupled with the challenges posed to humankind all across the world by COVID-19 pandemic call for humanitarian concerns. Nonetheless, a lack of a comprehensive policy both at the national as well as international level demands redressal. This article is an attempt to track down the jurisprudential trail concerning urban refugees, identifying and appraising the basic human rights that they should be entitled to during the pandemic and assessing the economic impacts of including such a population with the mainstream given the scarcity of national resources. Along with the jurisprudential aspect, what poses is the moral obligation of the States that gives rise to the ethics of admission of refugees into the countries. The article shall delve into both developed and developing-country model to assess the current situation of urban refugees, thereby trying to enumerate appropriate legal provisions.