The UN’s top human rights official has warned governments around the world to ensure human rights are not violated under the guise of exceptional or emergency measures.
High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has echoed sentiments from the Secretary General that the coronavirus pandemic is not only a critical public health danger but also a human, economic and social emergency that is “fast becoming a human rights crisis”.
The message from the United Nations is clear.
In times of crisis – even one as global in scale as COVID-19 – human rights cannot become an afterthought as High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet explains: “I’m a physician and I’ve been minister of health, President of the Republic, I know that these kind of measures are needed. But the emergency powers some Governments have adopted should not be used as a weapon to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate their time in power. Exceptional measures should be used to cope effectively with the pandemic. Nothing more, nothing less.”
She pointed out that under international human rights law States are able to restrict some rights in order to protect public health and confirmed that States have broad powers under various emergency declarations; but these powers must necessary, proportionate to the need, non-discriminatory and time limited.
A number of cases of alleged Police and SANDF over-reach including murder are being investigated in relation to South Africa’s lockdown while gender-based violence has soared.
“Certain rights – including the right to life, the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, and the right not to be arbitrarily detained – can never be set aside under any circumstances. Police and security forces in some countries have used excessive — and sometimes lethal — force to make people abide the lockdowns and curfews. Shooting someone for breaking a curfew because they are desperately searching for food is clearly unacceptable and unlawful. So is making it difficult or dangerous for a woman to get to hospital to give birth. In some cases, people are dying because of the way the measures — supposedly put in place to save them — are being applied.”
The UN also points to the more than 40 journalists who’ve been arrested or charged from Asia to Africa and the Americas for critical reporting on the pandemic.
Bachelet says she’s concerned that laws may be used to muzzle the media and detain critics and opponents.
“It is important to counter misinformation about COVID-19 as this poses a huge risk to people. But so, do bad policy decisions. Shutting down the free exchange of ideas and information undermines trust and may damage the effort to contain COVID-19 and its harmful socio-economic effects. We have seen many States adopt justifiable, reasonable and time-limited measures. But there have been worrying cases where Governments appear to be using COVID-19 as a cover for human rights violations — restricting fundamental freedoms and civic space and undermining the rule of law.”
And with the World Health Organisation emphasizing that the coronavirus outbreak is far from over, a locked-down human rights centric approach appears to be every more critical that previously thought.
