IACHR releases report on the impact of COVID-19 on human rights

WASHINGTON, CMC -The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has released a report aimed at addressing the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on human rights.

Titled “Pandemic and Human Rights” the IACHR assesses the impact on human rights of measures taken by countries to counter the pandemic as well as the lessons learned from the experience.

Based on this analysis, the IACHR makes a series of recommendations intended to guide countries in their efforts to address any negative effects on human rights and to mitigate the risks of recurrence.

The report focuses on the use of the state of emergency, restrictions of fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, and the differentiated impact on the human rights of groups who have historically been particularly vulnerable.

The report also draws on the work of the Rapid and Integrated Response Coordination Unit on the COVID-19 Pandemic (SACROI-COVID-19) set up by the IACHR to build its own institutional capacity to protect and defend fundamental liberties and human rights in this context.

The IACHR stresses that, to address the consequences of the pandemic, it is important to develop and implement at all levels of government, public policies that enable the consolidation of a comprehensive strategy using a human rights approach.

The commission, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), also expresses its willingness to provide assistance and technical cooperation to strengthen institutions in a way that ensures the adoption of a human rights focus when developing policies, designing access to funds to ensure the protection of these rights, and adopting plans and strategies to address the crisis caused by the pandemic in compliance with the applicable inter-American standards.

“Given the global health emergency, the IACHR has had to address through its various mechanisms, and given the impact that the pandemic has had on the exercise and enjoyment of human rights in the Americas, this thematic report is a crucial tool for analysis, assessment, and management, based on public policies with a human rights focus,” said IACHR President Margarette May Macaulay.

She said it also provides the opportunity “to understand the situation and its impact as well as any similar contexts that may challenge humanity in the future as this pandemic has done over the past three years.”

IACHR's executive secretary, Tania Reneaum Panszi, said, “this report enables us to move forward in terms of the IACHR's positive agenda with a human rights focus and to propose new initiatives and tools to face the current and future challenges linked to the pandemic.”

She said it would also allow stakeholders to work together with the common goal of expanding respect for and protection of human rights to develop public policies to fight increased inequality in the Americas.

COVID-19 has infected and killed millions of people globally since the first case was detected in 2020.

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