NGOs, Migrants and Refugees in the Age of Pandemic: A Reopening of Public Space for Policy Debates

The paper discusses the increasing roles of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in assisting refugees and migrants in coping with the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, following the lack of state capabilities and in response to the militarisation of border and asylum policies. By analysing the major consequences imposed by the pandemic on the EU migration policies and states’ approaches, it is argued that civil society organisations have complemented governmental responses, by mitigating their inconsistency and inhuman feature. Other than providing assistance to vulnerable people, NGOs are experimenting new public spaces, opened by the pandemic, to promote policy debates and reforms. The paper is divided in three parts. Firstly, an overview of the main COVID effects on humanitarian crises and on the condition of migrants and refugees is provided. Secondly, old and new roles of NGOs in coping with such effects are deepened. The continuation of non-governmental search and rescue (SAR) operations in the Central Mediterranean is particularly investigated as a controversial challenge. Thirdly, they ways NGOs are influencing public spaces for rethinking migration and refugees’ policies and practices are considered. The paper is conducted within the H2020 PROTECT project on The right to international protection: a pendulum between globalization and nativization.