UN rights chief distressed over plight of migrants

New Delhi, April 3

The plight of migrants after the nationwide lockdown has caught the attention of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, who expressed “distress” but welcomed the subsequent measures to address their situation.

“The lockdown in India represents a massive logistical and implementation challenge, given the population size and its density. It is nonetheless important to ensure that measures in response to Covid are neither applied in a discriminatory manner nor exacerbate existing inequalities and vulnerabilities,” she said.

Following the lockdown, many impoverished migrants were left without work and unable to pay for their rent and food. Without the ability to sustain themselves in urban centres and in light of the shutdown of public transportation, hundreds of thousands of migrant men, women and children were forced to walk hundreds of kilometres trying to reach their home states. Some died making the journey. — TNS