SARS-CoV-2, which emerged first in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, has spread across the world in a short period of time, and on 11 March 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus as a “pandemic”. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken hold of the entire world in a short time with its psychological, social and economic impacts, as well as its direct impact on the health of individuals and society, and those impacts still exist.
On 11 March 2020, Ministry of Health declared the first positive case in Turkey and accordingly, certain preventive measures have been introduced upon the statement in question. It is undoubted that asylum seekers are among the groups that have been affected the most by the socioeconomic impacts of the measures introduced and the restrictions imposed on 15 March 2020 in scope of the fight against the pandemic. Asylum seekers are still striving to survive in challenging conditions due to wars, conflicts and humanitarian crises, and they have to face a variety of difficulties in the postwar period.
With the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the needs of vulnerable asylum seeking children have become more pressing. Responding to these needs and developing needs-based solution policies are key to not only maintaining the current well-being of children, but also to ensuring that they fulfill their potential in the future. Protecting the Syrian children in Turkey, which has received the largest number of asylum seekers in the world, against the risk of being members of a lost generation and enabling the asylum seeking children to equally benefit from social, economic, educational, and health opportunities are of the essence both in national and international platforms.
The changes taken place in the operating modalities of healthcare institutions upon the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in difficulties in accessing healthcare services. It has been observed that there has been an increase in the occupancy rate of hospitals, that scheduling hospital appointments has become more difficult, that the treatments commenced prior to the pandemic, as well as the ongoing treatments, have been discontinued, that the provision of physiotherapy and rehabilitation services has been interrupted, that the scheduled operations of patients awaiting surgery have been postponed for an indefinite period, that families have been refraining from going to hospitals, and that children’s vaccine schedules have been delayed or have expired. Furthermore, families have been experiencing severe financial difficulties as regards covering their rents and utility bills due to losing their jobs. Compliance with the hygiene rules, which is the most important method in preventing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus, could not be achieved owing to the insufficient access to hygiene products, and masks/sanitizers could not be acquired.
The continuation of the distance education practice and the imposition of restrictions in respect of children and youth in 0-20 age group as part of the measures introduced upon the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused the lack of peer-to-peer communication of children to have direct repercussions in their intrafamily relationships. A high number of children and youth have been unable to access distance education. On account of their lack of access to school, they have faced risk factors such as exposure to and witnessing domestic violence, child labor, and being forced into early marriage. Asylum-seeking children with specific needs, who suffer from developmental disorders such as autism and Down syndrome, have experienced hardships in their access to structured education and healthcare services. The problems faced by asylum seeking children with chronic diseases in their access to healthcare services have rendered them more vulnerable in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, difficulties experienced in accessing mechanisms related to healthcare, education, law, social assistance and psychological support have resulted in the risk of the barriers encountered by children being exacerbated and permanent.
With the measures put in place, formal education was first suspended for a certain period of time on the ground that it would trigger the spread of the virus among students; however, due to the increase in the number of positive cases, it was later decreed that the practice of face-to-face formal education would be suspended and that distance (online) education practice would be adopted. First, a three-week break (as from 16 March 2020) in all educational institutions was introduced, and then, education in primary and secondary schools resumed via distance education as from the second week of the said break. Higher education institutions, as well, resumed their educational practices via distance education. Although the distance education model has been recognized by Ministry of National Education (MoNE) in Turkey, the national education system mainly relies on face-to-face education. Education Information Network (EBA) distance education system is operational under MoNE which governs primary and secondary education institutions. Upon the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the distance education system was put into practice by MoNE in an expeditious manner. Following the oneweek break from education, distance education practice was initiated and this system has been implemented throughout the spring semester. The quarantine process and the necessity to maintain social distance due to the COVID-19 pandemic have had impacts in the education field, as they did in all other fields, and have rendered necessary the use of distance education tools. In this process, devices and digital tools that started to be utilized with the imperative digitalization in the education field have now become educational tools. For students, digital platforms have become environments where both education and interaction take place. From this standpoint, it could be foreseen that the use of distance education tools and digital platforms will become permanent even if the pandemic ends in the forthcoming period or prevails in the long run.
Migration journey, a new culture, and the process of adaptation to life practices inherent in this culture are of significant importance in terms of asylum seeking children’s physical and mental health, as well as their psychosocial well-being. Coupled with life-threatening conditions such as pandemics, effects of periodical difficulties and developmental crises experienced during the adaptation process could potentially have more destructive impacts on asylum seeking children. Despite the fact that children are among the most affected groups in post-crisis settings, such as migration, natural disasters, and pandemics, this impact is often overlooked. Contrary to the initial findings suggesting that the direct impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic will not cause any health damage to children unlike the case with adults, the number of child patients has been on the rise at an alarming rate. Also, the negative impact of the pandemic on children’s mental and developmental wellbeing is gradually becoming more severe. The indirect impacts resulting from the measures taken against the COVID-19 pandemic and from the socioeconomic practices have had a negative impact on children’s well-being to a considerable degree. While the impacts of the pandemic on children of the host community members have also been dire, its impact on displaced children, who are among the most vulnerable groups, has been undisputedly graver and more challenging.
On account of their area of expertise, ASAM and ASAM Academy on Migration closely touch
the lives of numerous asylum seekers and migrants. During the 10th year of the war in Syria
and the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have continued to provide services with all
our colleagues across all of our offices. We, hereby, present this research, hoping that it will
help you better understand the key risk factors likely to affect especially asylum seeking and
migrant children, who are among the vulnerable groups, and will provide an insight during
the planning of solutions and measures to be put in place during and after the pandemic
period.
