Pandemics and human rights : three perspectives on human rights assessment of strategies against COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge to human rights and human rights law globally. The epidemic itself as well as the measures enacted to contain it continuously affect the enjoyment of internationally protected human rights. Furthermore, populism traditionally thrives on crises which can provide legitimacy to extraordinary politics that consistently have proved to be the anti-thesis to human rights compliance and to checks on the power of the executive. In the case of COVID-19 however, democratic states have been dealing with a genuine crisis and extraordinary policies have been warranted. Despite claims to the contrary, human rights do not present a barrier to decisive action to contain the virus. In fact, this working paper argues the opposite. The paper presents three perspectives on how human rights can act as a guide in the fight against the pandemic. Chapter 1 contrasts human rights-based approaches to fighting the spread with populist or authoritarian approaches. It explains what human rights-based approaches to genuine crises look like, as opposed to approaches with little regard for fundamental rights, providing a reliable way to spot the difference. Chapter 2 engages in a methodological discussion on how reliably to measure human rights compliance and promotion in connection with a global pandemic and conducts a survey of existing guides and trackers. Finally, Chapter 3 presents a method for real-life application of the results of the analysis in Chapter 1 and the discussion in Chapter 2 in the form of an assessment model for human rights protection and promotion during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.