The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact particularly on the most vulnerable populations, including immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the EU.
The comparative research project entitled “NATIONAL FUNDING 2019_LION_LOCAL ALLIANCE FOR INTEGRATION (81018/LION/General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI), Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica): “Migrant and Refugee integration into local societies in times of the 
COVID-19 pandemic in Spain and Greece” analyses via 47 in-depth interviews the experiences of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Greece (32) and Spain (15), the increased barriers towards integration due to racial and ethnic inequalities, precarity and health disparities during this period which function as a means of perpetuating exclusion in five sectors: (a) formal employment, (b) healthcare, (c) formal education and language training, (d) housing and social care/protection, and (e) intercultural coexistence as well as the new rise of a hostile rhetoric and anti-migrant attitudes under a COVID-19 pandemic populism.
The unravelling of the narratives revealed perceptions and practices of inequality and uncertainty as well as of hope.
The socioeconomic impact of the pandemic on immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, similarities and differences that occurred and evidence of the ongoing obstacles they encountered during the pandemic are presented.
Policy and practice implications include the implementation of prevention measures by the institutions that are tasked with the responsibility to remove hindrances, address unequal treatment, racial/ethnic and social inequalities and raise awareness on multiple ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified vulnerability.
Project Τitle:
NATIONAL FUNDING 2019_LION_LOCAL ALLIANCE FOR INTEGRATION (project code 81018)
Project Duration: 01/11/2021-01/06/2022
Project Framework & Funding:
General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI) 10.209,54 €
Scientific coordinator (UNIWA):
Theodoros Fouskas, Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica
Consortium – Partners:
Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica
Publications
Fouskas, T., (2023). Sociological Perspectives of Migrant Health Disparities and Access to Healthcare Services during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Voices of Immigrant and Refugee Women in Greece, International Journal of Non-Profit Sector Empowerment, 2(1): https://doi.org/10.12681/npse.32592
Fouskas, T., Koulierakis, G., Mine, F.-M., Theofilopoulos, A., Konstantopoulou, S., Ortega-de-Mora, F., Georgiadis, D., Pantazi, G. (2022). Racial and Ethnic Inequalities, Health Disparities and Racism in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic Populism in the EU: Unveiling Anti-Migrant Attitudes, Precarious Living Conditions and Barriers to Integration in Greece. Societies, 12(6):189. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12060189
Fouskas, T., Koulierakis, G., Theofilopoulos, A., Georgiadis, D., Mine, F.-M., Pantazi, G., Konstantopoulou, Merakou, K. and Ortega-de-Mora, F. (2023) Disproportionately Vulnerable: The Increased Exclusion of Immigrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece, in L. T. Duncan, (Ed.). Advances in Health and Disease. Volume 75. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 77-104.
Conferences
Fouskas, T. (2022). Health for all? Anti-immigration attitudes and mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in the EU and obstacles to healthcare, access and use of health services by immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Greece, oral presentation, 2022 Panhellenic Congress on Economics and Health Policy, 13 December 2022, Greece https://2022.healthpolicycongress.gr/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HPC2022_ScientificProgramme_GR.pdf (in Greek)
Fouskas, T. and Ortega-de-Mora, F. (2023). Migrant and refugee integration in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic? A comparative study between Greece and Spain, oral presentation, European Sociological Association’s Research Network 35 “Sociology of Migration” (ESA RN35) Midterm Conference, Departures, arrivals, border-crossings: changing migrations in times of crises, March 30, 2023, University Federico II, Naples, Italy.
Fouskas, T., Koulierakis, G., Theofilopoulos, A., Georgiadis, D., Mine, F.-M., Pantazi, G., Konstantopoulou, S., (2022) Disproportionately vulnerable: Increased exclusion of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece, oral presentation, International Conference on Europe in Discourse: Tracing Identity through Values, History and Border, 2 September 2022, Greece, https://europeindiscourse.eu/images/2022_EID_III_PROGRAM.pdf
