This action was submitted through the GFMD Mayors Mechanism Call to Local Action for Migrants and Refugees.
In Sfax, an underestimated number of migrants in Sfax were in need of information and access to health and social services when the epidemic of COVID-19 started. Many had lost jobs and were in need of support to livelihood. Their conditions worsened with the imposition of the lock-down. Additionally, the Municipality faced three key challenges:
- The absence of a national normative framework for the protection of migrants.
- The Municipality had no defined competence to act in favor of migrants.
- Lack of coordination between the Municipality and the decentralized authorities
As part of COVID-19 recovery efforts, the local government of Sfax initiated an evidence-based crisis response to ensure that migrants had an uninterrupted access to services:
- the municipality of Sfax launched an official appeal, calling upon local civil society, refugee and migrant associations, investors and citizens to join a solidarity initiative for refugee and migrant communities in precarious situations;
- the municipality called upon IOM for assistance, which led to the distribution of care packages and vouchers to vulnerable migrants and refugees in the city; the associations of migrant students and entrepreneurs played a key role during such crisis management.
- the municipality of Sfax leveraged existing cooperation with a wide range of civil society organizations, migrant and refugee-led associations and the local university to provide information on quarantine measures and access to essential services to vulnerable populations, who were difficult to reach through official channels;
- in order to ensure universal access to health care for all persons suffering from COVID-19, the Mayor of Sfax called upon the Governor of Sfax and the Regional Health Directorate to allow migrants to access sanitary services and COVID-19 testing and treatment in the hospitals irrespective of legal status. The municipality has also followed up on this call to action by collaborating with other decentralized actors and the organization “Médecins du Monde” to ensure non-discriminatory access to health services and testing;
- in the spring 2020, the City of Sfax reached out to IOM and “Terre d’Asile Tunisie” to coordinate support for vulnerable populations
Sfax municipality also followed up these initiatives with the following further actions to support the access of migrant populations to services:
- Vaccination of the migrants in the city and the entire region in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Médecins du Monde.
- Direct assistance and support towards access to health and medical products to migrants and refugees.
- Economic support for migrants through donation companies with the help of local civil society actors.
- Accompanying local, national and international actors to enhance information, awareness and communication on the migration issue.