Coronavirus pandemic is fast becoming 'human rights crisis' - UN

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the coronavirus pandemic is a human crisis that is fast becoming a human rights crisis.

The U.N. chief in a video message says that there is discrimination in the delivery of public services to tackle COVID-19 and there are structural inequalities that impede access to them.

Guterres says the pandemic has also seen disproportionate effects on certain communities, the rise of hate speech, the targeting of vulnerable groups, and the risks of heavy-handed security responses undermining the health response.

He has also warned that with rising ethnonationalism, populism, authoritarianism and a push back against human rights in some countries, the crisis can provide a pretext to adopt repressive measures for purposes unrelated to the pandemic.

In February, Guterres issued a call to action to countries, businesses and people to help renew and revive human rights across the globe, laying out a seven-point plan amid concerns about climate change, conflict and repression.

He says that he had then said that human rights cannot be an afterthought in times of crisis — and we now face the biggest international crisis in generations.

The Secretary-General says he was releasing a report on how human rights must guide the response to the virus and recovery from the pandemic.

The report or Secretary-General did not name any countries or parties responsible for human rights violations.

Guterres says governments must be transparent, responsive and accountable, and stressed that press freedom, civil society organizations, the private sector and civic space are essential.

The report says that governments also need to take action to mitigate the worst impacts of COVID-19 on jobs, livelihoods, access to basic services and family life.

[Source: Time.com]