Particularities of international refugee assistance policies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

The refugee issue has become one of the most important global challenges of our time. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced states to take stringent protective measures against the spread of infection, in particular by closing their borders. These circumstances have made it very difficult for international institutions assisting refugees to regulate cross-border movements of people. Added to this are such facts as manifestations of xenophobia against refugees in the context of the pandemic, which only complicates the humanitarian situation globally. The paper uses the methodology of neoliberal institutionalism as a theoretical framework to investigate this problem. The aim of the paper is to examine the refugee crisis and the limited capacity of international institutions to assist them in the context of COVID-19, and the countermeasures that the international community needs to take to avoid a humanitarian disaster.