A/76/257 pandemic, including owing to inadequacies in or shortage of personal protective equipment and clothing (E/C.12/2020/1). Immigration detention and other congested settings 34. Some States have used public health concerns to justify immigration enforcement measures. 21 In some contexts, quarantine orders have translated into discriminatory treatment of migrants, converting dormitories, shelters and reception facilities into de facto detention centres with conditions making physical distancing impossible to observe. 22 35. Migrants in immigration detention centres face a high risk of infection because of the conditions to which they are confined, often for prolonged periods. In some cases, conditions of detention have been so disproportionate and unnecessary or degrading that they could amount to ill-treatment. 23 Despite the fact that placing children immigration detention is against the best inter est of the child, and always a child rights violation, children have continued to be detained during the pandemic, 24 including in confined and overcrowded spaces with inadequate access to nutrition, health care and hygiene services. Staffing levels and care have been negatively affected by the pandemic, increasing the risk for neglect, abuse and gender-based violence. 25 36. In the light of travel restrictions preventing the repatriation of migrants, a number of States have released migrants in pre-deportation detention; established moratoriums on the use of migration-related detention; and opted for placements in non-custodial community-based shelters run by civil society, with access to services and referral mechanisms. 26 Some migrants have been released however, without being granted temporary or permanent regular status and without assistance for continued engagement with their migration procedures or access to benefits and essential services, with the risk of being detained again at any time. Racial discrimination and xenophobia 37. Emergency responses and polarized narratives have fuelled health fears and constructed perceptions exacerbating discrimination, racism, xenophobia and stigmatization. Such negative rhetoric and some media repor ts have portrayed migrants as threats and have falsely scapegoated them as COVID -19 carriers, leading to discriminatory behaviours and attacks. 38. Migrants belonging to racial, ethnic and religious groups not only are among the main groups at risk, but also are more likely to be excluded from health care because of discrimination or stigma or due to a lack of resources, or official documentation. The COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated long-standing structural inequalities in terms of access to equitable access to health-care facilities, goods and services. This is contrary to the human rights obligation to protect the right to health for everyone and to promote an equitable access to health care, without discrimination of any kind, in particular against individuals or groups of individuals who are victims __________________ 21 22 23 24 25 26 8/22 See https://unsdg.un.org/resources/policy-brief-covid-19-and-people-move. Submission by Global Detention Project. See www.hrw.org/report/2021/03/04/future-choices/charting-equitable-exit-covid-19-pandemic; submission by Elizka Relief Foundation. Submissions by: Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights; Center for the Human Rights of Children-Loyola University; Global Detention Project. Submissions by: UNICEF; Center for the Human Rights of Children -Loyola University. See https://migrationnetwork.un.org/sites/default/files/docs/un_network_on_migration_wg_atd_ policy_brief_covid-19_and_immigration_detention.pdf. 21-10577