While the Covid crisis undoubtedly affected all of society, it was evident that many were at much higher risk than others, both in terms of the risk of catching the virus and also in terms of the negative public perception of those who people blamed for spreading it.

A paper from Bocconi University highlights how refugees often fell into this bracket. The authors teamed up with Refugees International and Refugee Council U.S. to explore how people can be encouraged to engage with adverts on Facebook that try to paint refugees in a more positive light, especially in terms of their efforts in helping to fight the virus.

Positive engagement

Volunteers were shown a range of adverts that they could either click on to show support for refugees or use the like and love buttons instead. The results suggest that refugee advocacy organizations could get greater support from the public if they promote stories about refugees lending help and support on a local community level, especially when the ads are targeted to people in those local communities.

Ultimately, the best results appear to come when NGOs try to bridge the gap between the host communities and the refugees that are living in those communities. It was also interesting to note that the use of terms, such as immigrant or refugee, were generally seen as more positive by the volunteers than when the ads avoided using them entirely.

“A crisis can be an opportunity for advocacy organizations, because they may benefit from drawing attention to the immigrant or refugee backgrounds of people fighting the pandemic,” the authors explain.

There are concerns, however, that the use of such adverts might also create a distinction in the minds of people between refugees who are able to contribute and those that don’t have such capabilities. This could undermine the original purpose of the UN Refugee Convention to support refugees regardless of their ability and their status.