The European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, and the Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, sent a letter to the competent European ministers on Wednesday 8 April to draw their attention to the situation of “vulnerable groups”, who are more exposed to the health crisis.
They urge Member States to pay particular attention to the elderly, people with disabilities, women, men and children living at home alone with a violent partner, Roma communities, LGBTQI people, racial minorities and the homeless.
“We offer our support in your efforts to ensure that the emergency response measures also take into accounts those vulnerable groups. Our services are ready to assist in exchanging good practices on how to address their specific situation”, the three Commissioners say.
In particular, they call for continuity of support and care services for the elderly and people with disabilities, including at home. They also underline the importance of providing protection to victims of domestic violence – LGBTQI people in particular – exacerbated by containment measures.
The Commissioners also noted the increased exposure of Roma communities to COVID-19, recalling that Roma communities, on the one hand, have to move around and, on the other hand, generally have limited or no access to health services, social benefits, clean water and food. Here they advocate using “field workers and medical mediators working in these communities to deliver safely the much-needed support” (see EUROPE 12463/24).
Finally, the signatories point to exacerbated racial inequalities and call for further efforts by national authorities to ensure that hatred against racial minorities, asylum seekers and undocumented persons does not spread in the context of the crisis.
Populations discriminated against. In a study published on Tuesday 7 April, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) also details the consequences of the epidemic for these different populations.
In particular, it devotes part of this study, covering the period from 1 February to 20 March 2020, to incidents of racism, xenophobia and intolerance targeting certain national or ethnic communities linked to the pandemic.
For example, in most EU Member States there have been cases of racial discrimination in access to goods and services, political statements or physical attacks against people of mainly Chinese and Asian origin.
“However, there is very little official data on the prevalence of these incidents available”, says the FRA, which relies mainly on evidence reported by civil society organisations and the media.
To view the study: https://bit.ly/2RjXqqb (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)