Context: In the Maldives, 25 per cent of the population are migrants, mainly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. About 40 per cent of migrants live and work in the capital, Malé, and 60 per cent in the atolls. The majority of migrants work in the construction, tourism, health and fishery industries. There are currently an estimated 63,000 undocumented migrant workers in the country.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC), in partnership with the government and local authorities, initiated a number of activities to ensure that all migrants in the Maldives, regardless of their status, would receive adequate information about COVID-19 and, subsequently, gain access to vaccines. MRC has ensured that, in the process, the legal status of migrants is not recorded. At the centre of these activities are MRC volunteers, including youth from migrant communities in the Maldives.
Implementation of programme/ initiative: The Maldives has a very young population: about 50 per cent are below age 25, and one of the MRC priorities is youth development and empowerment, including for youth with a migrant background. MRC currently has four migrant youth volunteers who work on COVID-19-related activities for migrants, and about 220 youth volunteers and 10 youth leaders overall.
- Information and Outreach
MRC migrant youth volunteers have translated COVID-19-related material, produced by the Maldivian government and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) into relevant languages for migrant populations, containing information on preventative measures against getting and spreading the virus, and subsequently on how to access vaccines. As the literacy rate of some migrant populations is low, audio and video formats have also been used, with migrant youth volunteers proactively approaching fellow migrants, including in remote areas. To enable and facilitate registration for vaccines for undocumented migrants, MRC began supporting this process in February 2021, and has shared the identity of undocumented migrants with relevant health authorities for health purposes only.
- Migrant Support Centre
In 2020, MRC established the Migrant Support Centre in Malé, where volunteers, including migrant youth, distributed meals and hygiene kits. In 2021, MRC established a free Migrant Support Helpline, which provides psychosocial support as well as other services.
Main challenges: It has, at times, been challenging to gather data on and register undocumented migrants, both because some are unaware of their date of birth, and because they may be unwilling to provide information about their identity and register in an official system, out of fear of being deported. There is currently a lack of data and research on the situation of migrants in the Maldives, necessitating an overall needs assessment for migrants to determine the overall situation, and explore solutions for improvement. Limited volunteer resources and time constraints to implement the various activities of MRC is also a challenge, as many volunteers, including migrant youth, are studying and working.
Results achieved: As of July 2021, 4,235 undocumented migrants in the Maldives had been registered and 1,732 had received their first vaccination dose, while 284 had received their second one.
Trust between undocumented migrant communities and MRC has been built, paving the way for effective communication flows during the pandemic. The active involvement of migrant volunteers, including youth migrants, in connecting with migrants has been crucial: language barriers have been removed and migrant communities feel comfortable and safe that migrant volunteers are responding to them.
There has also been public recognition of the need to include migrants in the Maldives’ COVID-19 response; large contributions have been provided to support the work of MRC, including the Migrant Support Centre. Moreover, xenophobia and discrimination towards migrants has declined.
Moving Forward: MRC hopes to expand activities and areas in which it operates by providing services, support and advice to migrants in the Maldives. This includes providing relief assistance to those migrants in need, and promoting and expanding the Migrant Support Helpline, as well as equipping volunteers to address other issues, for example domestic abuse.
The precise nature of additional support to migrant communities is to be determined once a needs assessment has taken place by MRC with support from the Italian Red Cross and IFRC. The needs assessment is currently in progress.
Replicability: Currently, in many counties in Asia and the Pacific, migrants, in particular undocumented migrants, face multiple barriers when trying to access health information and health care in general. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, those barriers have been reinforced, as many states are prioritizing their own citizens, leaving non-citizens behind.
There is great scope to tailor the Maldivian Red Crescent model to other National Red Cross/Red Crescent societies in the region, and for migrant volunteers, including youth migrants, to work as facilitators, connectors and supporters to their fellow migrants on issues of health, but also on other issues that affect migrants’ lives, rights, opportunities and well-being. The Maldivian Red Crescent stands ready to support such programmes if and when required.
Acknowledgement:
This good practice was kindly prepared by Mr. Klaus Dik Nielsen.
References:
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/OHCHRGuidance_COVID19_Migrants.pdf
Project Details
Date: November 22, 2021