DISCRIMINATION AND STIGMATIZATION OF POLITICAL REFUGEES AND LABOR MIGRANTS IN THE EUDURING THE FIRST WAVE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The article traces the reaction of the EU states in the initial period of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, when there was a transformation from rallying to the division of society along different lines. In relation to arriving or already living, but poorly protected groups of migrants in different countries of the European Union, they were stigmatized as the main carriers of various diseases. The authors aim to identify the causes and consequences of discrimination and stigmatization of refugees and labor migrants in the EU during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic. The chronological framework includes the period of the first wave of coronavirus. The study analyzes in detail the manifestations of segregation towards migrants and the growth of xenophobic sentiments in the societies of individual EU states with the onset of the pandemic, separately examines the attempts of right-wing populists to strengthen their positions in the changed conditions, and examples of the exacerbation of many chronic problems of European states associated with migrants and their inclusion in host communities. Particular attention is paid to understanding the role of the media and the Internet space in the dissemination and attempts to end stigmatization. In the final part of the work, the influence of the indicated phenomena on the psychological and physical health of the societies of the EU countries is shown, on the change in people’s attitudes towards basic human rights and social values, as well as possible ways of solving the problem of rejection towards the indicated social groups.