COVID-19 and human rights
This is not a time to neglect human rights; it is a time when, more than ever, human rights are needed to navigate this crisis in a way that will allow us, as soon as possible, to focus again on achieving equitable sustainable development and sustaining peace.
The COVID-19 pandemic works like a global magnifying glass that exposes already weak institutions, inequality, discrimination and lack in privacy protection in all corners of the world. To address these underlying challenges, the COVID-19 response must be balanced, inclusive and durable and in line with states' human rights obligations.
In our approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have four main focuses:
- Replace state of emergency with good governance based on accountable and transparent institutions
- Ensure legal protection and transparency during mass surveillance
- Regenerate sustainable growth and employment respecting human rights (incl. the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights)
- Replace exacerbation of discrimination with awareness of and safeguards for non-discrimination. Our focus is on economic and social rights and women and indigenous peoples.
The Sustainable Recovery Pledge
A growing number of UN Member States are signing a Sustainable Recovery Pledge to build back better from the pandemic, using the 2030 Agenda, grounded in States’ human rights obligations, as well as the Paris Agreement, as the blueprint.
The Sustainable Recovery Pledge was launched on Wednesday June 30th in an online event in conjunction with the 47th session of the Human Rights Council. At the launch, government representatives pledged their commitments while senior UN officials, civil society, prominent business representatives, and human rights experts reflected on essential aspects of sustainable recovery that are linked to human rights and the SDGs in this decade of action.
Guidance for immediate crisis response
Videos
Examples on how we manage to work with human rights throughout the world regardless of a crisis like COVID-19.
News about COVID-19
Publications about COVID-19
-
Annual reportPublicationIn the annual report on the Institute’s international work, we present some of the many results we have contributed to in 2022. -
PublicationPublicationAlmost three years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, states and societies seem to have returned to some sort of normality, often thinking that “business as usual” is a viable path forward. But can we really go back to “business as usual”? And what have we learnt from the pandemic?