COVID-19: A Human Rights Checklist

Based on Human Rights Watch (HRW)'s reporting on the human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic (see Related Summary, and the video, below), this document presents 40 questions to provoke thinking about a rights-respecting response to the crisis. The questions address the needs - including around issues of information and communication - of groups most at risk, such as people living in poverty, ethnic and religious minorities, women, people with disabilities, older people, migrants, refugees, children, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The resource also identifies a variety of responses to the crisis, some of which are positive and others problematic - with many links to related stories and resources online.

Just a few examples include:

• Is your government providing the public with timely, accurate, and accessible information on the spread of the pandemic?
• Is your government actively opposing the prosecution of journalists, whistleblowers, and others who have raised legitimate factual concerns about COVID-19?
• Is your government taking steps to address the digital divide by increasing the accessibility and affordability of internet access, especially in places under lockdown where education, work, and public information on COVID-19 have moved online?
• Has your government released political prisoners and others wrongfully or arbitrarily imprisoned, including human rights defenders, journalists, and political activists?
• Is your government reporting any temporary suspension of performance of human rights obligations to relevant treaty bodies?
• Is your government's use of digital surveillance technologies to respond to the pandemic narrowly tailored to protect the right to privacy, assembly, and expression?
Is your government making distance learning systems accessible to historically marginalised communities, including children with disabilities?
• Are state authorities challenging xenophobic and anti-migrant hate speech?