As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to take its huge and tragic toll on the world’s population, it is being felt hardest by the poorest and most marginalised communities in the world, whichever kind of political, economic, social, religious exclusion they experience. In particular, we are witnessing how Covid-19 is exacerbating pre-existing religious inequalities. It is essential to both identify this and provide support, to address the particular impact of Covid-19 on more vulnerable groups and to “build back better”.
Still from the video Our Sweepers, Our Heroes by PYT
The Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development (CREID) commissioned blogs, op eds and other non-academic outputs which share perspectives of the realities and experiences of religious minorities and people with non-majority beliefs in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath in Iraq, Pakistan and other countries.
Global overview
- READ: Scapegoating of religious minorities during Covid-19: is history repeating itself? – by Lasse Morthorst
- READ: Sectarianism will not defeat coronavirus: no one is immune – by Mariz Tadros, IDS
- READ: COVID-19 emergency relief must reach everyone, including minorities and indigenous peoples – by Claire Thomas, MRG
- READ: Countering the Coronavirus: can people remain safe and still practice their faith? – by Mariz Tadros, IDS
India
- READ: India’s Muslim minority experiences increased targeting and violence during Covid-19 – by Amjad Nazeer, IDRAC
- READ: Covid-19 adds yet another strain to the dire situation of religious minorities in India – by Clement Arokiasamy, IDS Alumnus
Iraq
- READ: Covid-19 and increased Daesh attacks threaten the survival of Iraq’s religious minorities – by Ewelina Ochab, human rights advocate
- READ: Covid-19 reduces demand for olives produced by minority communities in Bashiqa – by Ammar Aziz, KirkukNow
- READ: Domestic violence soars in Iraq amid coronavirus lockdown – by KirkukNow
- READ: Thousands of IDPs are in danger of being exposed to coronavirus amid lack of medical supplies – by Ammar Aziz, KirkNow
- READ: Hard time for IDPs (composed largely from religious minorities) in the age of Coronavirus – by Ammar Aziz, KirkNow
Impact on the Armenian minority
- Coronavirus consequences add to the suffering of Iraq’s Armenian minority – by Ammar Aziz, KirkukNow
Impact on the Christian minority
- Iraqi Christian town fights an imbalance battle with Covid-19 – by Ammar Aziz, KirkukNow
Impact on the Kakai minority
- READ: Coronavirus stifles social and religious gatherings for Kaka’is – KirkukNow
- READ: A fight for survival: Kaka’is left with three unpleasant options – KirkukNow
- READ: Kaka’i farmer becomes bankrupt thrice due to Daesh and Covid-19 – by Mohammed Almas, KirkuNow
- READ: Covid-19 shuts down century-old Kaka’i pottery factory – by Mohammed Almas, KirkuNow
- READ: Iraqi offensive against Daesh brings hope of stability for Kaka’i minority – by Mohammed Almas, KirkukNow
- READ: Kakai’s anguish in search for security – by Mohammed Almas, KirkukNow
- READ: Kakai minority in Iraq fights for life on two fronts – by Mohammed Almas, KirkukNow
Impact on the Shabak minority
- READ: Coronavirus deprives Shabak children of their leisure time – by Ammar Aziz, KirkukNow
Impact on the Yazidi/Ezidi minority
- READ: Coronavirus exacerbates mental distress of IDP women especially Yazidi survivors – by Ammar Aziz
- READ: Untimely death: stories of Ezidis who took their lives in the wake of COVID-19 – by Ammar Aziz, KirkukNow
- READ: Teacher wage scandal puts schooling of Ezidis in Sinjar at stake – by Ammar Aziz, KirkukNow
- READ: How Sinjar (home of Iraq’s Yazidi minority) handles Covid-19 with crippled health infrastructure – by Ammar Aziz, KirkukNow
All KirkukNow articles are also available in Arabic, Kurdish and Turkmen.
Pakistan
- READ: COVID Doesn’t Discriminate On Basis Of Faith, Neither Should We – by Naumana Suleman, MRG
- READ: Religious minorities, privacy and data protection in the fight against Covid-19 – by Haroon Baloch, Bytes for All
- READ: Beyond Commissions: Institutionalizing Minority Rights In Pakistan – by Naumana Suleman, MRG
Discrimination against Hazara Shia minority
- WATCH: Pakistan’s Hazaras in the COVID era
- READ: “Go in disguise to receive medical treatment”- religious discrimination in Pakistan – by Muhammad Aman
- READ: Dire conditions for Hazara Shia pilgrims during Covid-19 quarantine in Pakistan: six women share their experiences – by Sadiqa Sultan, independent consultant
- READ: The ordeal at the Taftan quarantine camp – by Marzia Akhlaqi
- READ: Pakistan’s Hazara Shia minority blamed for spread of Covid-19 – by Jaffer Mirza, CREID
Unprotected sanitation workers in the frontline of the fight against Covid-19
- READ: Unprotected, unpaid or unrecognised: Christian workers on the frontline in Pakistan’s fight against Covid-19 – by Asif Aqeel, journalist and researcher
- WATCH: Our sweepers, our heroes – Covid-19 adds to perils of Pakistan’s sanitation workers – by PYT
- READ: Lahore: sanitation workers working without masks at risk of contagion – by Shafique Khokhar, NCJP
Discrimination and emergency relief
- READ: Karachi NGO denies food to poor Hindus and Christians – by Shafique Khokhar, NCJP
Uganda
- READ: Uganda’s Covid-19 neglect of minorities is bad for everyone – by Moses Muhumuza, Universal Institute of Research and Innovations,
and Mark Kaahwa, Mountains of the Moon University, Uganda
This IDS news item was originally published on 15 May 2020, but is being regularly updated with new content.
