COVID-19: Human Rights Now More Than Ever

Covid-19 exposed and exacerbated the ‘Info-demic of misinformation. But what happens next to find a vaccine to return trust in media and contain the spread of misinformation. IOHR partnered with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) global director Dr Julie Posetti to discuss the options with Guy Berger, Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO, Damian Collins MP, co-founder of Infotagion and Sally Lehrman, Chief Executive of the Trust Project. … Read more →

Damian Collins MP took his expert knowledge from chairing the Select committee on disinformation and ‘fake news’ inquiry and co-founded the website Infotagion, to tackle disinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic. He is the new brand of politicians who are taking the fight to the street. … Read more →

19 June 2020 marked the sixth commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Speaking on the day the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten praised the day as: … Read more →

The pandemic of misinformation has been rife during the Coronavirus. Guy Berger, Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development at UNESCO, describes the fight to combat this infodemic and how to maintain freedom of expression in a post Covid world. … Read more →

Amal De Chickera, co-director of the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI), shares the findings of a new report analysing the impact of Coronavirus on stateless people around the world. The study by ISI has found that birth registration has been suspended in many regions due to the outbreak of the virus. … Read more →

Sir Malcolm Evans, Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (SPT), gives an insight into the struggle to keep prison populations and prison workers safe from the pandemic under lockdown globally. … Read more →

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Chinese media has been struggling to create a consistent narrative about China’s response to the global crisis and the involvement of the CCP. … Read more →

Tom Phillips is the editor of Full Fact, the UK’s leading fact-checking charity. He discusses their role in debunking myths and false claims surrounding the global pandemic and the way technology can help uncover the truth. … Read more →

The Coronavirus pandemic news narrative mutated into misinformation to become just as contagious. IOHR and ICFJ invited Dr Julie Posetti, The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), Editor-in-Chief of Blankspot Martin Schibbye, Tom Phillips the editor at Full Fact, Rui Zhong of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China & the US, and Natalia Antelava co-founder of Coda Story to discuss its implications. … Read more →

A Disinformation Fellow at The Wilson Centre, Washington DC, Nina Jankowicz explains why disinformation thrives during a pandemic. Who gains from causing fear and mistrust through the spread of fake narratives and how can the public ‘informationally distance’ themselves from this manipulation? … Read more →

As of early April, President Duterte’s regime had arrested almost as many people for violating Covid-19 curfews and lockdowns as it had tested for the virus. Protesters have been arrested, journalists censored and people are put in cages and beaten if they break any lockdown restrictions. Yet despite the violence, US President Donald Trump publicly supports Duterte’s efforts. … Read more →

Your race, ethnicity, nationality or income can impact the likelihood of contracting Coronavirus. The tracking data on COVID-19 fatalities exposes the disproportionate effect on people along those same distinctions. … Read more →

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an unquenchable thirst for information amongst a British population desperate to stay privy to the latest developments and scientific advice; The result is that news outlets are seeing record levels of traffic directed towards their online news stories. … Read more →

As the Covid-19 virus continues to spread, accurate data and information is more sought after than ever before and Big Data lies at the heart of efforts to comprehend and forecast the impact that Coronavirus will have on all of us. It helps governments to track confirmed cases and fatalities, journalists to inform the public what is going on and organisations rely on it to make critical decisions but the use of Big Data is also raising several important questions about trust and privacy. … Read more →

Singapore announced today, 6 April 2020, that nearly 20,000 migrant workers have been put under quarantine for two weeks after a growing number of coronavirus infections were detected in their dormitories. The ongoing pandemic has worsened the situation for migrant workers across the world as conditions in labour camps – notoriously known for being cramped and lacking basic hygiene and sanitary services – make it impossible for workers to protect themselves against the virus. … Read more →

The COVID-19 pandemic has infected over 1.2 million globally and is believed to have killed nearly 70,000 people. It is now widely accepted that the deadly virus originated in a wildlife market in Wuhan, in the Hubei province of China. … Read more →

Last week UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged all the warring parties of the world to “lay down their weapons” in the face of the common enemy – COVID-19. On Monday 30 March, 2020, Canada and Italy became the latest in a list of 53 nations supporting the call for a global ceasefire. … Read more →

Polish ruling party’s decision to go ahead with presidential elections scheduled for 10 May, has caused disagreements amongst the opposition. Although the country is in a state of “epidemiological emergency” with Covid-19 cases rising to 1,984, the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party insists on keeping to the schedule. … Read more →

Russia has started employing advanced facial-recognition technologies, artificial intelligence and video surveillance in its struggle against the coronavirus pandemic. A new so-called coronavirus information centre is pulling together high-tech resources, including surveillance cameras and artificial intelligence, to monitor social media for disinformation about the spread of the disease, properly enforce quarantines, and identify empty supermarket shelves. … Read more →

Dr. Julian Sheather, special adviser in ethics and human rights to the British Medical Association and ethics adviser to Médecins Sans Frontières, highlights the ethical implications arising from the outbreak of coronavirus. According to the adviser, this virus is not just a biomedical event. It’s a human one too, which involves community rights. … Read more →

Brazil has 2,100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, the highest in any Latin American country to date. President Jair Bolsanaro has been widely criticised and accused of risking the lives of millions of Brazillians by shirking advice from experts and downplaying the severity of the coronavirus referring to it recently as “a little cold”. … Read more →

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have been forced to temporarily suspend resettlement travel for refugees as a result of the travel disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. … Read more →

Authorities around the world are granting temporary or early release to prisoners to address the spread of the coronavirus in overcrowded prisons. The Turkish government has drafted legislation to give almost 100,000 prisoners this respite, but that will not include any political prisoners; a category which includes journalists, lawyers, politicians and human rights defenders. Dr Ugur Tok of the Platform for Peace and Justice launches a civil society call on the Turkish government to also include those unjustly detained on terrorism charges in the bill. … Read more →

Hungary’s parliament will consider an emergency bill next week that would give prime minister Viktor Orbán sweeping powers to rule by decree, without a clear cut-off date. The bill seeks to extend indefinitely Hungary’s state of emergency, which was declared two weeks ago. Parliament would only be able to lift the state of emergency by a two-thirds majority, exactly the majority held by ruling party Fidesz, meaning ultimately it’s Orban’s decision. … Read more →

COVID-19 could prove a death sentence for prisoners trapped in Iran with no medical care. Sherry Izadi, wife of the British-Iranian Anoosheh Ashoori, calls for her husband’s immediate release. In Evin prison, hygiene is extremely poor. When Mr Ashoori was recently transferred to a ward, where two people were already infected by the virus, his wife called on the UK government to do more to secure his release. At the same time, another British national, Nazanin Zagari-Ratcliffe, was allowed temporary release from Evin to be with her family. … Read more →