A/HRC/45/30 protecting their human rights, providing them with care and assistance, and improving national responses that take into consideration the recommendations set out in the Principles and Guidelines, Supported by Practical Guidance, on the Human Rights Protection of Migrants in Vulnerable Situations.11 11. The COVID-19 crisis has both shed light on structural inequalities and exacerbated many of the human rights challenges already faced by migrants in vulnerable situations, including restrictions on free movement, lack of access to health care, decent work, social protection, adequate living conditions and education, exposure to xenophobia and discrimination and exclusion from public services.12 12. Some States have failed to fully include migrants in assistance measures to combat the negative health and economic effects of the crisis, leaving migrants and their families at risk of contagion and destitution, especially as work opportunities disappear. Many migrants in irregular situations are also unable or unwilling to access health care or other essential services due to fear of detention and deportation. Such conditions heighten risks not only to migrants, but to all in society, as they undermine an effective response to the pandemic. 13. Migrants compelled to live in segregated neighbourhoods, quarantine facilities, overcrowded dormitories, informal settlements or camps or in other inadequate conditions have been exposed to a greater risk of contracting the virus and have less access to treatment.13 14. In a number of States, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to spikes in xenophobic rhetoric and violence against migrants and minorities associated with migration, further cutting them off from access to essential services, and negatively affecting the solidarity and evidence-based approach that are crucial to addressing the pandemic.14 15. Loss of employment and wages as a result of the pandemic have led to further economic hardship for migrants and a decline in remittances, with devastating effects for families relying on them. Some migrants have been forced into irregularity as a result of the expiration of work permits. 15 At the same time, many migrants have played key roles as essential workers, including in health and care services, food production, agriculture, hygiene, domestic work, construction, delivery services and transportation throughout the duration of the crisis, often without sufficient support and social protection.16 16. Some States have continued to take harsh immigration enforcement measures during the COVID-19 crisis, including immigration raids, arbitrary detention, family separation and forced return, some of which might enable the virus to spread and put migrants and societies at risk. Others have used the health crisis as a justification for border closures and other mobility restrictions without ensuring sufficient due process safeguards, or continued access to asylum and other protection under international human rights and refugee law. Yet other States that have facilitated regularization, expanded health coverage to migrants in irregular situations or cooperated to ensure safe and voluntary returns despite mobility restrictions. 17 17. The likelihood of migrants going missing or dying is aggravated when borders are closed or when migrants have no choice but to take more dangerous and precarious routes, including as a result of mobility restrictions.18 Thousands of migrants die or go missing along migratory routes every year; in 2019, more than 5,000 migrant deaths were documented, and 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 4 General Assembly resolution 73/195, annex, para. 23 (l). OHCHR, “COVID-19 and the human rights of migrants: guidance” (www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/OHCHRGuidance_COVID19_Migrants.pdf). See also United Nations Network on Migration, Enhancing Access to Services for Migrants in the Context of COVID-19 Preparedness, Prevention, and Response and Beyond (https://migrationnetwork.un.org/covid-19). Ibid. Ibid. United Nations, “Policy brief: COVID-19 and people on the move”, 2020. Ibid. Ibid. International Organization for Migration, Fatal Journeys: Tracking Lives Lost During Migration (Geneva, 2014), p. 90.