HUMAN RIGHTS

LESSON CONTENT
 Where do Human rights come from?
 Human Rights Conflict
 Have Human rights been breached during state lockdowns?
 Covid Lockdown and Human Rights
 UNSG belief on COVID-19 and human rights
 Rights Group Around the World Untie to press on Coronavirus Surveillance

Where do Human rights come from?

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1948)
International Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights (1966)
International Covenant on civil and Political Rights (1966)

Have evolved over time

These 3 documents are the important ones
Traces found in Greek and Roman philosophy

Human Rights Conflict

Why have there been challenged to state authority during imposed lockdown?
In these circumstances, are human rights being protected or violated?
Which groups have been most at risk of human rights violation since the outbreak of Covid-19 – the
poor, the detainees at camps and prisons,

Are lockdowns infringing on human rights?

- Public not able to work (daily-wage workers)
- Keep the public safe

How to balance the to? Is it justifiable for governments to lockdown and keep people from practicing
basic freedom?

Is it protection or violation of HR/ changes depending to a country or political regime?

Have Human rights been breached during state lockdowns?

There are claims that state imposed lockdowns infringes on human rights, to what extremes might
states go in order to protect the public at a time of global crisis

Arguments that human rights have been breached

Arguments that human rights have not been breached

Imposing lockdowns on one group of people is different from doing so on another – disparity between
people all over the world/

Basic freedoms – traveling to work, earning a wage and purchasing provisions - were denied. Regardless
of purpose, is this a violation of Human Rights?

The documentation – according to those, is this the case

Covid Lockdown and Human Rights
Core aims of intergovernmental organizations?
Aims of specific governments?
What might a resolution look like moving forward?

Different governments handled differently

Have governments used lockdowns or lifting of lockdown for political gains?

UNSG belief on COVID-19 and human rights

Why has human rights protection been a focus since the lockdown?
What can be done to support those who are not able to obtain support from governments at this time?

Why it might not be productive to compare situations from one continent to another concerning
lockdown and Covid ‘circuit breaking’

Rights Group Around the World Untie to press on Coronavirus Surveillance

How far might governments go to protect their citizens? Contact tracing and why this might be the first
step towards greater surveillance. How much might people be willing to sacrifice for the protection of
themselves and their families.

VIDEO: UNSG AND COVID 19

Public emergency, economic social and human rights crisis
HR must be guidelines to covid response
Healthcare for everyone
Rise of hate speech, targeting minority groups.

The crisis can become an excuse for countries to become undemocratic

How human rights priorities might change from place to place.

There is a difference between not going to work – if you is living in a big house and able to support
yourself, and living in a refugee camps and unable to obtain foods and water

FORBES ARTICLE
- More than 100 human rights organizations, civil liberties campaigners and consumer groups
from around the world have issued a joint statement on Covid-19 and digital surveillance.
- The groups are urging governments to use tracking technologies only if they're carried out
strictly in line with human rights principles.
- Authorities cannot simply disregard the right to privacy and must ensure any new measures
have robust human rights safeguards,"
- The statement sets out three basic conditions. First, surveillance measures adopted to address
the pandemic must be lawful, necessary and proportionate, say the groups. They must be
provided for by law and backed by legitimate public health objectives. Governments must be
transparent about the measures they are taking, so that they can be scrutinized and, if
appropriate, modified or withdrawn.
- Second, any such powers must be time-bound, and only continue for as long as necessary to
address the current pandemic.
 - And, third, states must ensure that any increase in the collection, retention, and aggregation of
personal data - including health data - is only used for the purposes of responding to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The data must be limited in scope, time-limited to the pandemic, and must
not be used for commercial or any other purposes.

- Meanwhile, a number of European countries are working to link their tracing systems in the
hope that this could lead to a loosening of border controls.

- "PEPP-PT was created to provide a solution to this crisis that adheres to strong European
privacy and data protection laws and principles," says the team.

- "The PEPP-PT technical mechanisms and standards fully protect privacy while taking advantage
of the possibilities of digital technology to maximize the speed and real-time capability of
national pandemic responses."

Contact tracing as a means to stop

Surveillance like face recognition to document travel and contact
Helpful to stop spread
But violation of human rights