During the COVID-19 pandemic, human rights violations including censorship, discrimination, arbitrary detention, xenophobia were reported from different parts of the world. Amnesty International has responded that "Human rights violations hinder, rather than facilitate, responses to public health emergencies, and undercut their efficiency."[1] The World Health Organization has stated that stay-at-home measures for slowing down the pandemic must not be done at the expense of human rights.[2]
The government of China enforced early censorship to suppress information about COVID-19 and the dangers it poses to public health.[3][4] There were criticisms that the epidemic was allowed to spread for weeks before efforts were undertaken to contain the virus.[5]Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who alerted his colleagues about coronavirus was censored and then detained for "spreading false rumors."[6] He succumbed to the infection and later died.[7] Amnesty International criticized that China's aggressive lobbying of the World Health Organization involved minimizing of the severity of the outbreak.[1]
"Plague Inc.", a mobile game that focuses on the simulation of global pandemics was banned by the Cyberspace Administration of China on the grounds that it had "illegal content" and was promptly removed from all Chinese digital stores. Ndemic Creations, the game developer, said that it is unclear whether this was in connection to the COVID-19 outbreak but that they plan to work hard to get their game back into Chinese players' hands.[8]
Poland
An experienced midwife working during the pandemic in a Polish hospital was fired after she published a report on Facebook on 18 March about the conditions of medical personnel and the hospital in relation to the pandemic. Reports came out afterwards that doctors were being forbidden from providing information to the media. On 25 March 2020, the Polish OmbudsmanAdam Bodnar informed the Minister of Health that medical staff's freedom of speech and the public's right to know are guaranteed under Articles 2, 54 and 61 of the Polish Constitution and that firing or punishing doctors for informing the public during the pandemic could be a violation of the "obligatory standards".[9]
On 26 March, Poland's secretary of state of the Ministry of Health, Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko, published a written statement forbidding voivodeship medical consultants from making statements related to the coronavirus unless they first consulted with the Ministry of Health or Główny Inspektorat Sanitarny [pl] (GIS, the national health agency).[10] A doctors' group, Porozumieniu Chirurgów SKALPEL, described the order as blackmail and said that it risked catastrophe.[10]
Turkey
Law enforcement agencies detained 19 social media users whose posts were "unfounded and provocative", causing panic and fear according to the officials.[11] Some newspapers considered these actions to be censorship.[12] As of 6 April, at least seven journalists, who were each reporting for local media, were detained for how they covered the pandemic, and the state media watchdog had fined at least three channels for their coverage of the outbreak, including the mainstream channel Habertürk, which was penalized after its medical expert stated that the low level of testing and the high rate of transmission of the virus meant there were many undiagnosed cases, greatly exceeding the government's confirmed case figures.[13]
Turkmenistan
The government of Turkmenistan outlawed the word "Coronavirus" on media.[14]
Social networks
Various social networks applied anti-spam measures for content posted about SARS-CoV-2 and the pandemic. Facebook allegedly censored informative content about the virus.[15] According to users, posts about the coronavirus from reliable sources of media were blocked and hidden from other users. Facebook claimed a bug was responsible for this, but conspiracies are circulating that this was done deliberately to suppress information.[citation needed]
YouTube demonetized several videos in which the term "corona" was used. The demonetization was cited under the rules of sensitive content.[16]
Right to health
In China, many patients had to be turned away from hospitals after hours of queuing due to the high number of ill people.[1] Shortage of testing and treating material were reported.[17]
Due to the high volume of patient inflow in Italy, doctors were forced to decide on whether or not to treat the elderly, or leave them to die.[18] A photo of a nurse who collapsed due to huge workload in an Italian hospital was widely circulated as a symbol of the overwhelmed system.[18]
In Libya, the medical situation was worsening amidst the ongoing war, where hospitals were constantly being attacked. In April 2020, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Libya, Yacoub El Hillo confirmed that 27 health facilities have been damaged and 14 close in five weeks. On April 6, UAE-backed forces of Khalifa Haftar launched a Grad rocket attack against the Al-Khadra General Hospital and damaged the 400-bed facility, where 300 patients, including two COVID-19 patients, were being treated. The attack was condemned as a violation of international humanitarian law by Yacoub El Hillo.[19][20]
There have been increased reports of racism against Asian people, particularly against Chinese people in Europe and the Americas.[21][22][23]
The World Health Organization's Emergency Committee issued a statement advising all countries to be mindful of the "principles of Article 3 of the IHR (the International Health Regulations)," which the WHO says is a caution against "actions that promote stigma or discrimination," when conducting national response measures to the outbreak.[24]
A Washington Post staff photographer captured a snapshot of US President Donald Trump's speech notes in which he had crossed out the word "coronavirus" and replaced it with the words "Chinese virus."[25][26] Trump referred to coronavirus as "Chinese virus" in his speeches amidst growing protests of racism from different quarters. However, he stated that he does not believe his statements were racist because the virus originated there, and he also stated that he was intending to counter Chinese propaganda which claimed that American soldiers originally brought the virus to China.[26][27]
India has seen many cases of people from its north-east parts being called 'coronavirus' because of their racial similarities to the people of China, the country where the pandemic originated.[28] This is in the backdrop of existing problems of racism that people from these regions continue to face.[29] Indian government's Minister for State for Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju made a statement against the increasing instances of racist comments against the people of North-east India.[30]
On 1 May 2020, the Malaysian authorities mustered and detained nearly 586 undocumented migrants in a raid conducted in Kuala Lumpur. The detained migrants included young children as well as ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, amidst the rise in xenophobia. The move was condemned by the United Nations, which urged Malaysia to avoid such detentions and release the children, warning that the overcrowded detention centres will be highly vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic.[31]
Suppression of information
Amnesty International reports that the Chinese government has censored numerous articles related to coronavirus pandemic in China. Nicholas Bequelin, Regional Director at Amnesty International has criticized that "the Chinese authorities risk withholding information that could help the medical community tackle the coronavirus and help people protect themselves from being exposed to it".[1]
Harassment and intimidation
Activists sharing information about the coronavirus pandemic situation in China were intimidated and harassed.[32][1] In the United States, the Justice Department has quietly asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies — part of a push for new powers that comes as the novel coronavirus spreads throughout the United States.[33]
On May 15, the UN High Commissioner for Human RightsMichelle Bachelet warned that the emergency powers and lockdowns imposed amidst the coronavirus pandemic has been exploited by some governments. Taking advantage of the situation, these governments were attempting to silence the dissidents and to curb the political foes, human rights defenders and journalists. She also stated that the response to the crisis should be "driven by science-based facts", rather than politics or the economy.[34]
Disproportionate border control and quarantine
The Australian government sent hundreds of Australians to an immigration detention centre on Christmas island, where the conditions were previously described as "inhumane" by the Australian Medical Association.[35][1]
Right to privacy
Governments in many countries have been conducting mass surveillance in order to carry out contact tracing of the disease spread and its carriers.[36] In China, government installed CCTV at the doors of quarantined individuals to ensure that they don't leave.[37] Some residents in Hong Kong were made to wear a wrist-band linked to a smartphone app for alerting the authorities if the person broke quarantine.[38] In some parts of India, passengers were stamped with indelible ink on their hands, the date until the person should remain in quarantine.[39]
On May 13, 2020, Human Rights Watch reported that mobile location tracking applications that governments around the globe are using to counter Covid-19 crisis, pose human rights risk. The rights group alleged that the utility of such programs was still questionable and with easy access to user’s geopolitical location and proximity information, disproportionate surveillance can threaten their personal privacy.[40] On May 18, 2020, the Scottish Human Rights Commission wrote a letter to Holyrood’s Justice Committee highlighting the grave conditions inside Scotland prisons during the pandemic. In its letter, the commission argued that the present status could lead to inhumane treatment of inmates, which is in breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. “People in prison are likely to be more vulnerable to the risks and impacts of COVID-19. Closed conditions of detention make social distancing virtually impossible; many prisoners are currently living together in cells designed for one person; and prisoners are spending more time in their cells with no possibility of receiving a visit from their family,” said Judith Robertson, chair of the commission.[41]
Violations in Prisons
On 10 April 2020, footage shared by Amnesty International revealed that detainees in a Cambodian prison are living in “inhumane conditions." With at least 25 prisoners lying on the floor of a single small cell, the prison is claimed to be extremely overcrowded and violates physical distancing requirements. It has been called a "ticking time bomb, especially during the coronavirus outbreak."[42]
The quarantine measures amidst the coronavirus pandemic severed the conditions in the unsanitary and overcrowded detention centers of Latin America. The unavailability of food, which is usually provided by the relatives of inmates, led to a new set of upheaval in a Venezuelan prison, inside the Los Llanos Penitentiary Centre (CEPELLA) in Guanare. The eruption of riot inside the prison killed at least 46 prisoners and injured over 70, including a national guard officer and a warden.[43]Human rights groups, including the Amnesty International, called for the investigation and analyzation of the authorities’ deadly response.[44]
People have reported experiencing social stigma after recovering from the illness.[45] Some healthcare workers caring for individuals with COVID-19 have also reported experiencing mental health difficulties due to the fear of being stigmatized by their family and community.[46]
See also
List of major events affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
^Wuhan, About The Author Da ShijiDa Shiji is the penname of a veteran journalist living in the city of (27 January 2020). "The Truth About "Dramatic Action"". China Media Project. Retrieved 13 March 2020. ((cite web)): |first1= has generic name (help)
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