What the new Coronavirus means for human rights
“We should have learned by now that human rights protections cannot be an afterthought in epidemics,” says Master of Science in Global Health graduate Roojin Habibi, who appeared on BBC News recently to comment on why the International Health Regulations matter for the Diamond Princess quarantine and for the global response to COVID-19 more broadly.
Habibi, who is a lawyer specialized in global health law and currently a research fellow at the Global Strategy Lab, says, “We need all government responses to be rational, factual, anchored in binding human rights obligations. Beyond that, we need robust financing of WHO’s response efforts. In one word, we need solidarity.”
In a recent article in the Health and Human Rights Journal, Habibi shares why human rights principles should be central to public health response to Coronavirus:
Human Rights and Coronavirus: What’s at Stake for Truth, Trust, and Democracy?
Alicia Ely Yamin and Roojin Habibi
It has scarcely been a month since COVID-19 (then simply known as the disease caused by a novel ‘coronavirus’) was declared a “public health emergency of international concern”. The virus has since travelled to every continent except Antarctica, and prompted at least 80 travel restrictions against China, with many others now targeting secondarily affected countries, such as Iran, Italy, and South Korea.[1]
Although World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus has called for solidarity, not stigma, it is notable that to date WHO has not issued any substantive guidance on how countries can take public health measures that achieve health protection while respecting human rights.[2] Amid growing public fears, confusion, and misinformation, as well as government reactions that may fuel rather than mitigate intolerance, discrimination and exclusion, it is critical to set out some key human rights principles and the guidance they provide.[3]
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