On 6 October 2021, the Council of Europe’s EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement and the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) published a joint paper on the necessity of including migrants and refugees in biological disasters and pandemics.

The paper, entitled Inclusion of migrants and refugees in preparedness and response to biological disasters: case study of the COVID-19 pandemic intends to give national governments and their counterparts at regional and local levels, civil society organisations, relevant offices in the public and private sectors, and communities, a better understanding of how to support migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in biological disasters and pandemics.