Photo credit: Sandrine Assouline/Aide et Action
Paris, 8 April 2020. In India, the containment imposed by the local authorities at the end of March as part of the fight against the global Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on internal migrants. Usually working on construction sites that have now come to a halt, these people find themselves deprived of their sources of income, further stigmatised and forbidden to return to their villages of origin. Migrant workers are now in a particularly dramatic situation. To ensure their survival, safety and dignity, Aide et Action immediately reacted and adapted its "usual" activities to the emergency.
In India, after containment measures led to the closure of businesses, cities that had previously relied heavily on migrant workers suddenly became deeply inhospitable to them. Deprived of any source of income and with no other choice, thousands of migrants have been forced to leave urban areas, trying to return to their villages of origin located hundreds of kilometres away. To ensure their survival and that of their families, they set off on foot, carrying children and personal belongings, and were targeted by the anger of the police, who had orders to prevent people from moving. Without proper guidance and accompaniment, the Indian migrants were forced to take ill-advised risks of COVID-19 contamination, starvation and exhaustion. Treated inhumanely, like criminals, many were sprayed with "disinfectants".
Faced with this dramatic situation, Aide et Action immediately mobilized. In 6 cities of the country (Delhi, Patna, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad and Chennai), where we were already present, our teams pleaded with the owners of brick factories and construction companies to provide shelter and food rations to migrant families until the confinement was lifted. In addition, we were able to convince the authorities in various Indian states to include migrants in their aid plan by providing them with a ration kit. In total, 5,000 families received dry food rations. Volunteers usually work with children from migrant familiesIn addition to the above-mentioned activities, they have initiated health and hygiene education activities for the families who have stayed behind. " We ourselves had already migrated and left our own homes and families in order to be present with the migrant families and thus carry out educational activities for their childrensays Suvendu Panda, one of our volunteers from the state of Odisha. While our families are in the villages, we too are confined, but we continue our work to support these people. "Elsewhere, Aide et Action has also pledged to assist more than 1,000 migrants stranded in other cities in the country. " I was informed about the situation of migrants stranded in Tirupur, Trichy, Kanchipuram and Chennaisays Prakash Raj, programme manager. We immediately coordinated with the district and central administrative authorities and were able to rescue and screen about 200 people. "
For migrants who have managed to return to their villages of originWe have started to collect data that will be provided to the District Administrations to ensure their rights. In the rural areas, particularly in three districts (Balangir, Bargarh and Nuapada) - we have set up a network of community volunteers in local governments. This group, consisting of 225 volunteers in 176 villages, monitors the health of repatriated migrants and supports the establishment of public quarantine facilities. This community network will soon be replicated in all the locations where we usually carry out migration-related activities in India. We are also setting up resource centres where migrants and the community will have access to information related to COVID-19.
Finally, we regularly provide crucial data to various agencies and organisations (such as UNICEF), companies and the government to that together we can provide an appropriate response to the problems of migrant workers throughout the COVID-19 crisis. " Our experience in working with migrant populations in India gives us a unique expertise and perspective on the issues faced by this populationsays Umi Daniel, director of migration and education at Aide et Action in India. This has helped us to initiate quality, short-term actions for the benefit of migrant workers and their families. "
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For more information and interview requests, please contact Anne Cassiot - [email protected] - 01 55 25 70 13 - @anne_cassiot
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Aide et Action is an association for development through education. For the past 40 years, we have been ensuring access to quality education for the most vulnerable and marginalized populations, especially children, girls and women, so that they can control their own development and contribute to a more peaceful and sustainable world. Because we promote lifelong learning, we pay particular attention to early childhood care and education, access to and quality of education at primary and secondary levels, and vocational training and social inclusion. Based on the values of dignity, inclusion and integrity, as well as on the principles of transparency, accountability and solidarity, and thanks to the support of our 47,000 donors, we carry out more than 70 projects in Africa, Asia, Europe - and particularly in France - for more than one million children, young people and adults.
