APPRAISAL OF IMPACTS OF COVID-19 ON REFUGEE PROTECTION IN AFRICA

This paper appraises the regional efforts on refugee protection in Africa. It specifically examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on regional efforts on refugee protection in Africa, and found, inter alia, that challenges posed are unprecedented and widespread. These challenges resonate in a number of areas of concerns including refugees' right to work, funding of refugee protection, application of the principle of non-refoulement and concept of burden-sharing among African States. The paper concludes with the exigencies for African States to treat the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic as a wake-up call for renewed commitment to regional solidarity in addressing the root cause of forced displacements which often give rise to refugee movements and population, and in evolving future public health preparedness plans that contemplate all manners of contingencies including those in nature of the threats posed by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.