UN chief warns against repressive actions amid coronavirus crisis
23 April, 2020
UN Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres said on Thursday the coronavirus could give some countries a justification to adopt repressive measures for reasons unrelated to the pandemic as he warned that the outbreak risks becoming a human rights crisis.
Guterres released a UN survey highlighting how human rights should guide the response and recovery to medical, social and economical crisis gripping the environment. He added that while the virus does not discriminate, its impacts perform.
The new coronavirus, which in turn causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, has up to now infected some 2.57 million globally and 178,574 persons have died, according to a Reuters tally. The virus earliest emerged in the Chinese town of Wuhan late this past year.
"We start to see the disproportionate effects on particular communities, the rise of hate speech, the targeting of vulnerable organizations, and the risks of heavy-handed reliability responses undermining the health response," Guterres said.
The UN report said migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons are particularly vulnerable. It stated a lot more than 131 countries have shut their borders, with only 30 permitting exemptions for asylum-seekers.
"Against the backdrop of growing ethno-nationalism, populism, authoritarianism and a pushback against human rights in a few countries, the crisis can provide a pretext to look at repressive methods for purposes unrelated to the pandemic," he said. "That is unacceptable."
The United Nations didn't give any specific examples of such measures.
Guterres called on governments to come to be transparent, responsive and accountable and stressed that civic space and press independence were "critical." He explained: "The best response is one which responds proportionately to quick threats while protecting individual rights and the guideline of law."
With businesses shut down and vast sums of people told to remain home in order to avoid spreading the virus, the International Monetary Fund has predicted the environment are affected its steepest downturn because the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The U.N. article stated the pandemic was creating additional hardship that "if not mitigated, will raise tension and may provoke civil unrest," adding that this could in that case spark a heavy-handed reliability response.
"In every we do, let's remember: The threat may be the virus, not people," Guterres said.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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