A Spotlight on Democracy
The
unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has resulted in major social, political and legal
challenges globally. As states around the world adopt emergency measures to
address the crisis, it is critical that they continue to uphold the rule of
law, protect and respect international standards and basic principles of
legality, and the right to access justice, remedies and due process.
UN
Secretary General António Guterres has urged governments to be transparent,
responsive and accountable in their COVID-19 response and ensure that any
emergency measures are legal, proportionate, necessary and non-discriminatory.
“The best response is one that responds proportionately to immediate threats
while protecting
human rights and the rule of law,” he said.
States must respect and protect, among other rights, freedom of expression and of the press, freedom of information, freedom of association and of assembly. Concerns in many countries in the context of COVID-19 include:
- Measures to control the flow of information and crackdown on
freedom of expression and press freedom against an existing background of
shrinking civic space.
- Arrest, detention, prosecution or persecution of political
opponents, journalists, doctors and healthcare workers, activists and
others for allegedly spreading “fake news”.
- Aggressive cyber-policing and increased online surveillance.
- Postponement of elections is raising serious constitutional
issues in some cases and may lead to rising tensions.
The crisis
raises the question how best to counter harmful speech while protecting freedom
of expression. Sweeping efforts to eliminate misinformation or disinformation
can result in purposeful or unintentional censorship, which undermines trust.
The most effective response is accurate, clear and evidence-based information
from sources people trust.
Around the
world civil society organizations have answered the UN's call to action
to address and counteract the wide range of ways the Covid-19 crisis may
impair democracy and increase authoritarianism, by:
- developing media literacy and digital safety, more critical
than ever as activism is forced online, so as to address the risk of
suppression, interference and closing of civic space;
- fighting misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, which
have mushroomed in the crisis;
- training journalists remotely to report on the impact of the
pandemic with in-depth, fact-checked coverage, while staying safe on the
front line;
- empowering women against gender-based violence, which has
surged amid Covid-19 lockdowns, quarantines, and social and economic
pressures;
- helping to highlight the challenges of inequality and weak
service delivery made worse by the crisis, with specific focus on the
needs and rights of women, youth, minorities and other marginalized
populations, so as to help hold governments to account.
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