Coronavirus cases have been ramping up throughout the major parts of the world for the last two months. The virus has botched up every sphere of life.
Health systems of approximately all affected nations have been collapsed which are being exposed badly and unfit to provide the basic right to health to their citizens. No vaccine has been found yet to mitigate the effects of coronavirus for rapid recovery.
So, every government has focused to motivate public for self-isolation. Many countries have introduced and imposed lockdown rules and orders to force people for social distancing. However, unfortunately, blatant and stark violations of human rights have been noticed.
Many cases have been reported from the Chinese city, Wuhan where families were forced to stay at quarantine centers. They were being beaten badly. Even the patients who were being treated in the hospitals of Wuhan revealed that they saw cremation of living patients of coronavirus.
Reports say that more than 1200 corpses were cremated daily by the Chinese Communist government, but the data is underreporting.
There was totally media censorship in the city, and those who reported such cases of violation of human rights are still missing. The beleaguered government of China is winning the war against coronavirus but serious threats have been posed to human rights.
People do not have access to free media. The city has been hostile by the state media that is projecting the narrative of government. China is violating Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
The journalists who were punished and misplaced on exposing the violation of human rights in the province of Hubei should be released as early as possible with a remedy under Article 8 of UNDHR that states, “Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law”.
Human rights are under threat in other coronavirus affected countries. On March 22, it is being accused that the legs of a journalist in the province of Baluchistan, Pakistan, were broken because of exposing the poor arrangements of the provincial government in the Quarantine centers on the Pakistan-Iran border.
Media persons are being targeted in the global crisis of coronavirus. Governments are hostile to journalists on exposing their inadequate arrangements, poor performance because of corruption, and vulnerable health systems. Journalists are more committed to their jobs than praising governments regarding the provision of correct news to masses in the challenge of CONVID-19.
Governments must ensure the safety of journalists by taking their reporting positively to improve arrangements to combat the global epidemic.
To stop the spread of Coronavirus, many countries have been locked down including the UK, some states of the USA, Italy, India, Iran, and many other countries where cases are ramping up.
On 23 March, Pakistan also called its local army to confine people to their houses. Education institutions, parks, public transport, international traveling, and private and government offices have been closed.
On March 8, the Malaysian government also enforced a temporary Movement Control Order (MCO). The aim of the order is to bar foreign tourists and visitors entering Malaysia. The order also closed all public and private places, institutions and public transport. Governments are correct to take strict measures for the betterment of the public to stop the spread of the lethal virus.
However, the principles of equality, non-discrimination, freedom of personal liberty, assembly, association, and religion must be respected. The non-derogatory rights as ensured by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be respected by governments and state institutions.
Amnesty International has expressed concerns over the violation of human rights in the fight against the global epidemic. According to the Regional Director at Amnesty International, Nicholas Bequelin, “Censorship, discrimination, arbitrary detention and human rights violations have no place in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic.”
No doubt, the restrictions that are being enforced are justified to a large extent. But in fact, the collapse of health systems is because of the poor governance of previous governments. And the precursors which led to imposing all the restrictions on the public because of coronavirus are also because of the inefficiency and negligence of governments.
Their poor performance put the lives of millions of people at stake. Why did not the governments of 190 countries take strict measures when WHO termed the coronavirus as “Global Pandemic” with serious warnings?
Why was the primary and substantive right to health not protected? And why could governments not build a stable health system to protect the substantive and basic right of health that is reliable to face any epidemic? The public of each country should hold its government accountable.
We should combat coronavirus collectively at this time by giving priority to respecting human rights. The world should move on toward global health system to fight such lethal viruses in the womb of time in more effective ways to avoid global economic and health collapse.
