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“Lest We Should Sleep”: COVID-19 and Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2020

Karima Bennoune
Karima Bennoune*
Affiliation:
Homer G. Angelo and Ann Berryhill Endowed Chair and Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law, University of California, Davis School of Law. The author would like to thank Hannah Cho, Sarah Gamble, Vanessa Hofman, and Annie Youchah for research assistance, and Professors Chetan Bhatt, Stephanie Farrior, and Keith Watenpaugh for helpful comments.
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Abstract

Any meaningful human rights law approach to COVID-19 must be holistic and recognize the breadth of the challenges to both economic, social, and cultural rights, and civil and political rights. It must be grounded in the threat posed by the disease but also address responses to it, and implicate a wide range of state and nonstate actors. Such an analysis should offer a positive vision of effective global reaction, and counter attempts to hijack rights to oppose legitimate pandemic measures.

Type
The International Legal Order and the Global Pandemic
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 114 , Issue 4 , October 2020 , pp. 666 - 676
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by The American Society of International Law

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Footnotes

Under the Rubble (Lebanon Nour Productions 1983).

References

2 See International Labour Organization, ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the World of Work (2d ed. Apr. 7, 2020) (Noting that COVID-19 is the “worst global crisis since the Second World War.” Id. at 2.).

3 Comm. on Econ., Soc. & Cultural Rights, Statement on the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, para. 1, UN Doc. E/C.12/2020/1 (Apr. 17, 2020) [hereinafter CESCR].

4 Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, COVID-19 Case Tracker, at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu (as of September 18, 2020).

5 See, e.g., Cecile Mantovani, Over 90,000 Health Workers Infected with COVID-19 Worldwide: Nurses Group, Reuters (May 6, 2020), at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-nurses/over-90000-health-workers-infected-with-covid-19-worldwide-nurses-group-idUSKBN22I1XH; Stephanie Nebehay, One in 7 Reported COVID-19 Infections Is Among Health Workers, WHO Says, Reuters (Sept. 17, 2020), at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-healthworkers/one-in-7-reported-covid-19-infections-is-among-health-workers-who-says-idUSKBN2681TR?campaign_id=154&emc=edit_cb_20200917&il=0&instance_id=22292&nl=coronavirus-briefing&regi_id=126020829&segment_id=38416&te=1&user_id=7dd3592cc2df37863a4669b8ce53d28c.

6 UN Human Rights Comm., General Comment No. 36, para. 2, UN Doc. CCPR/C/GC/36 (Sept. 3, 2019).

7 Id., para. 26.

8 Id..

9 See, e.g., The COVID Tracking Project, The COVID-19 Racial Data Tracker, at https://covidtracking.com/race.

10 For critique of overly group-based analyses of climate change, see Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, paras. 19, 24, UN Doc. A/HRC/41/39 (July 17, 2019).

11 Under the Rubble, supra note 1.

12 Zirui, Matthew, Poh, Chek Meng, Rénia, Laurent, MacAry, Paul A. & Ng, Lisa F. P., The Trinity of COVID-19: Immunity, Inflammation and Intervention, 20 Nat. Rev. Immunology 363 (Apr. 28, 2020)Google Scholar, available at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32346093.

13 See, e.g., Betty Pfefferbaum & Carol S. North, Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic, New Eng. J. Med. (Apr. 13, 2020), at https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2008017.

14 See Doctors Without Borders, Keeping Essential Medical Services Running During the COVID-19 Pandemic (May 22, 2020), at https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/news-stories/story/keeping-essential-medical-services-running-during-covid-19-pandemic.

15 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Art. 12(2)(c), Dec. 16, 1966, 993 UNTS 3 [hereinafter ICESCR].

16 CESCR General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12), para. 1, UN Doc. E/C.12/2000/4 (Aug. 11, 2000).

17 ICESCR, supra note 15, Art. 2(2).

18 Report of the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/20/26 (May 14, 2012).

19 CESCR, General Comment No. 25 (2020) on Science and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, UN Doc. E/C.12/GC/25, at para. 70 (Apr. 30, 2020) [hereinafter CESCR General Comment No. 25].

20 See ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), Press Release on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (May 1, 2020), at https://aichr.org/news/press-release-on-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-by-the-asean-intergovernmental-commission-on-human-rights-aichr; and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Pandemic and Human Rights in the Americas (Apr. 10, 2020), available at http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/decisions/pdf/Resolution-1-20-en.pdf.

21 See e.g., Security Council, Senior Officials Sound Alarm Over Food Insecurity, Warning of Potentially “Biblical” Famine, in Briefings to Security Council, UN Press Release SC/14164 (Apr. 21, 2020).

22 Joanna Slater & Niha Masih, In India, the World's Biggest Lockdown Has Forced Migrants to Walk Hundreds of Miles Home, Wash. Post (Mar. 27, 2020), at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-coronavirus-lockdown-migrant-workers/2020/03/27/a62df166-6f7d-11ea-a156-0048b62cdb51_story.html.

23 Murali Krishnan, Coronavirus: India's Lockdown Turning into Humanitarian Crisis, DW (May 9, 2020), at https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-indias-lockdown-turning-into-humanitarian-crisis/a-53377588.

24 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Press Release, Working Together to Better Protect South Sudan's Vulnerable During COVID-19 (June 23, 2020), at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Voices-from-the-Field-South-Sudan.aspx.

25 OHCHR Press Release, Poland Urged Not to Criminalise Sex Education or Tighten Access to Abortion (Apr. 16, 2020), at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25796&LangID=E.

26 See, e.g., ICESCR, supra note 15, Art. 4; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Arts. 18–19, 21–22, Dec. 16, 1966, 999 UNTS 171 [hereinafter ICCPR].

27 ICCPR, supra note 26, Art. 5; GA Res. 217 (III) A, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 30 (Dec. 10, 1948) [hereinafter UDHR].

28 Human Rights Comm., Statement on Derogations from the Covenant in Connection with the COVID-19 Pandemic, UN Doc. CCPR/C/128/2 (Apr. 24, 2020).

29 Ambassador Samantha Power: Rethinking Global Governance, BBC (June 23, 2020), at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08hp2mj.

30 Id.

31 See Jon Emont & Saeed Shah, Coronavirus Is Spreading at Religious Gatherings, Ricocheting Across Nations, Wall St. J. (Mar. 18, 2020), at https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-is-spreading-at-religious-gatherings-ricocheting-across-nations-11584548174.

32 Ritu Prasad, Coronavirus: Why Is There a US Backlash to Masks?, BBC (May 5, 2020), at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52540015.

33 U.S. Vice-President Pence offered a rights-based justification of COVID-era campaign rallies. Kevin Breuninger, Coronavirus: Pence Defends Trump Campaign Rallies Despite Surge in Coronavirus Cases: “We Have an Election Coming Up this Fall,” CNBC (June 26, 2020), at https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/26/coronavirus-pence-defends-trump-campaign-rallies-despite-surge-in-cases.html.

34 UDHR, supra note 27, Art. 29.

35 CESCR, supra note 3, para. 4.

36 Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, COVID-19 Guidance Note (Apr. 23, 2020), available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Housing/SR_housing_COVID-19_Guidance_informal_settlements.pdf.

37 UN Secretary-General, Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Women (Apr. 9, 2020), available at https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/policy_brief_on_covid_impact_on_women_9_apr_2020_updated.pdf.

38 See, e.g., International Justice Resource Center, COVID-19 Guidance from Supranational Human Rights Bodies, at https://ijrcenter.org/covid-19-guidance-from-supranational-human-rights-bodies. See generally Center for Economic and Social Rights, at https://www.cesr.org.

39 See UN Secretary-General, COVID-19 and Human Rights: We Are All in this Together (Apr. 2020), available at https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un_policy_brief_on_human_rights_and_covid_23_april_2020.pdf [hereinafter UN Sec-Gen Policy Brief].

40 Id. at 2; see also UN Press Release, We Are all in this Together: Human Rights and COVID-19 Response and Recovery (Apr. 23, 2020), at https://www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus-communications-team/we-are-all-together-human-rights-and-covid-19-response-and.

41 Id. at 3.

42 Id. at 3 (“Nothing in this paper seeks to tie the hands of States in shaping an effective response to the pandemic.”).

43 See OHCHR Press Release, Human Rights Council Talks COVID-19 with Independent Experts (Apr. 30, 2020), at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/HRCTalksCOVID19WithIndependentExperts.aspx. See generally OHCHR, UN Special Procedures and COVID-19 Working Document Covering Information as of 28 April 2020, available at https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/SP/COVID19_and_SP_28_April_2020.pdf.

44 See OHCHR, COVID-19 and Special Procedures, at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/COVID-19-and-Special-Procedures.aspx; UN Geneva Press Release, Human Rights Council Discusses Human Rights Implications of the COVID-19 Crisis with its Special Procedures Mandate Holders, at https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/press/taxonomy/term/175/58989/human-rights-council-discusses-human-rights-implications.

45 See Council of Europe, Respecting Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights in the Framework of the COVID-19 Sanitary Crisis (Apr. 7, 2020), at https://rm.coe.int/sg-inf-2020-11-respecting-democracy-rule-of-law-and-human-rights-in-th/16809e1f40.

46 See African Comm'n on Human & People's Rights Press Release, Press Statement on Human Rights Based Effective Response to the Novel COVID-19 Virus in Africa, at https://www.achpr.org/pressrelease/detail?id=483.

47 Id.

48 Id.

49 Other phenomena, such as climate change, may cause widespread damage, yet the timeframe is longer. In fact, the persistence of climate change during the pandemic means the discipline of human rights must respond to compound disasters.

50 CESCR, supra note 3, para. 3.

51 Lawrence O. Gostin, Global Health Law 257–69 (2014).

52 Sen, Amartya, Press Freedom: What Is It Good for?, 42 Index on Censorship 6, 9 (2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

53 Emma Graham-Harrison, Tom Phillips & Justin McCurry, Doctor Who Blew Whistle Over Coronavirus Has Died, Hospital Says, Guardian (Feb. 6, 2020), at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/06/whistleblower-chinese-doctor-dies-from-coronavirus.

54 Shengjie Lai, et al., Effect of Non-pharmaceutical Intervention for Containing the COVID-19 Outbreak in China, Nature 2 (2020).

55 Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation, (1985) 3 SCC 545 (India).

56 Stephen King (@StephenKing), Twitter (Apr. 3, 2020), at https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1246098663174266882?s=20.

57 CESCR General Comment No. 25, supra note 19, para 67.

58 See OHCHR Press Release, COVID-19 Guidance, at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/COVID19Guidance.aspx.

59 Id. Further information regarding application of the right to health is available in CESCR statement, supra note 3.

60 See UN Sec-Gen Policy Brief, supra note 39, at 2.

61 Council of Europe, Coronavirus: Guidance to Governments on Respecting Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law (Apr. 8, 2020), at https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/coronavirus-guidance-to-governments-on-respecting-human-rights-democracy-and-the-rule-of-law.

62 See Taylor, Allyn L. & Habibi, Roojin, The Collapse of Global Cooperation Under the WHO International Health Regulations at the Outset of COVID-19: Sculpting the Future of Global Health Governance, 24 ASIL Insights 15 (June 5, 2020)Google Scholar, at https://www.asil.org/insights/volume/24/issue/15/collapse-global-cooperation-under-who-international-health-regulations.

63 ICESCR, supra note 15, Art. 15(4).

64 See, e.g., Gabrielle Bruney, My Concern Is that Authoritarians May Use COVID-19 as a Cover, Esquire (June 15, 2020), at https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a32474899/fionnuala-ni-aolain-interview-coronavirus-covid-19-lessons.

65 Id.

66 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, para. 4, UN Doc. A/HRC/44/49 (Apr. 23, 2020). This report makes important points, including about provision of reliable public health information to the public.

67 See, e.g., Alice McCool, Court Orders Release of Jailed LGBT+ Ugandans After Coronavirus Charges Dropped, Reuters (May 18, 2020), at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-uganda-lgbt/court-orders-release-of-jailed-lgbt-ugandans-after-coronavirus-charges-dropped-idUSKBN22U2DO.

68 Chetan Bhatt, Keynote Address, Fédération International des Droits de l'Homme (June 23, 2020) (text on file with the author).