COVID-19 driving Nicaraguan refugees to hunger and desperation | La COVID-19 lleva a los refugiados nicaragüenses al hambre y la desesperación

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COVID-19 driving Nicaraguan refugees to hunger and desperation | La COVID-19 lleva a los refugiados nicaragüenses al hambre y la desesperación

UNHCR, 28 Aug 2020

URL: https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2020/8/5f44c56d4/covid-19-driving-nicaraguan-refugees-hunger-desperation.html
More than three quarters of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers in Costa Rica are going hungry, eating only once or twice a day as a result of the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned that this could drive returns in adverse conditions.

Before the pandemic hit, and thanks to effective local integration initiatives in Costa Rica, only three percent of refugees were eating once a day or less. Now, this has more than quadrupled to 14 per cent. This is according to a humanitarian assessment conducted by UNHCR in July and August aimed at supporting Costa Rican authorities address the needs of more than 81,000 Nicaraguans who have sought international protection in the country.

The majority of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum seekers in the country, 63 per cent, now report eating only two meals a day.

Refugee hosting communities are facing similar conditions and the economic contraction in these countries will make it even more difficult for refugees and their hosts to recover.

Read the piece in Spanish: https://www.acnur.org/noticias/briefing/2020/8/5f482fa64/la-covid-19-lleva-a-los-refugiados-nicaraguenses-al-hambre-y-la-desesperacion.html#_ga=2.199267435.419046704.1602525261-1181030147.1578932055