Knowledge Platform
The impact of COVID-19 on family remittances: A lifeline cut for migrants’ families
The UN Migration Network’s policy guidance, developed under the leadership of IFAD with support from IOM, OHCHR, UNICEF, UN Women, and the World Bank, highlights measures needed for an effective response to reduced remittances flows. It recommends that the provision of remittances is declared an essential service; taxes for remittance senders and recipients are waived; collaboration is promoted between public authorities and diaspora groups; the use of digital channels for sending and receiving remittances is encouraged and capacity for this built; and that migrants and remittance families are included in economic stimulus packages, cash assistance and social protection responses to COVID-19, independent of migration status.