The Impact of the COVID-19

Pandemic on Human Rights

NAME Jong-Hyeon LEE

Student 2022113023
number
MAJOR German and German
Literature
WEEK 5
 At the end of 2019, a disease called COVID-19 occurred in China. The
disease has spread around the world and has officially infected hundreds
of millions of people to date. This situation has made a stark distinction
between the world before and after the outbreak. Self-isolation has
emerged, something we have never heard of before, and masks have
become a necessity when we leave the house. Most countries in the world
have suppressed individual freedom by various means to slow and curb the
spread of the disease. I think a serious violation of people's human rights
occurred in this process.

I think people have different opinions on the criteria for restricting

individual freedom. The line I think of here is whether an individual's
words and actions violate the degree of freedom of others. And more
importantly, is there "consistency" in judging whether it violates the
degree of freedom of others?

Most advanced countries, including Korea, have imposed obligations on

people to wear masks. These controls, which were designed as a way to
prevent the spread of the virus, are evaluated to have actually suppressed
the spread of COVID-19. However, when implementing this obligation to
wear a mask, the standards were different depending on the situation,
such as indoor, outdoor, and restaurants. In Korea, the obligation to wear a
mask indoors and outdoors was enforced, and at the same time, the
obligation to wear a mask was not enforced in the process of eating food
in internal spaces such as restaurants and cafes. I find this very ironic. In
situations where people walk away from people outdoors, the obligation to
wear is imposed, but the obligation in the internal space where the air
flow is limited is lifted. Then, why is it mandatory to wear a mask
outdoors? I think this is a serious violation of the right to freedom for
individual citizens outdoors, and it can only be seen for the purpose of the
state controlling the people.

In addition to the obligation to wear masks, a system called self-isolation

emerged after the COVID-19 situation. Due to this system, few people,
such as COVID-19 patients and contacts, have never lived in quarantine in
Korea. I believe that the infringement of individual freedom occurred even
in the process of implementing the self-isolation system. I think it is
reasonable to quarantine a person who has been confirmed to be infected
with COVID-19 because there is a justification to protect the degree of
freedom of others. However, consider the situation in which a soldier on
vacation from the military returns to the unit and quarantines even though
he has no symptoms. I think this is an indiscriminate abuse of quarantine.

The COVID-19 situation induced serious infringement on individual

freedom. I think this infringement is a great threat to human rights, which
is a fundamental human right. No one knows what else will happen to us in
the future, but if we have to limit individual freedom, we should minimize it
as necessary. As a result, we can defend the values of individual freedom
guaranteed by human rights, and when those values are observed, we
truly believe that we humans can develop and progress further.