The public health measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic effectively contained and reduced the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on a global scale between 2020–2023, and had several other positive effects on the natural environment of planet Earth and human societies as well, including improved air quality and oxygen levels due to reduced air and water pollution, lower crime rates across the world, and less frequent violent crimes perpetrated by violent non-state actors, such as ISIS and other Islamic terrorist organizations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that stay-at-home responses for slowing the pandemic, such as the quarantine mandates, should not be implemented at the expense of human rights. Broader concerns have been expressed about the effect of COVID-19 containment measures on human rights, democracy, and governance. Numerous experts report that various issues intersect, and are no longer an issue of only one category.
Freedom of speech and expression
Based on a Freedom House report, at least 91 countries experienced restrictions on the news media as part of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with these restrictions occurring in 62% of 'Partly Free countries' and 67% of 'Not Free countries.' Furthermore, they also reported that additional government restrictions on free speech have been imposed in at least 72 countries.
Azerbaijan Human Rights Watch reported that at least 6 activists and pro-opposition journalists have been detained following criticising the governments response to the pandemic, accusing them of abusing the restrictions to silence political opposition.
Bangladesh The Government of Bangladesh has been accused of using the virus as a way to crack down on government critics. In May 2020, Human Rights Watch reported that 11 people, including bloggers, cartoonists and journalists, were arrested for their reporting of the pandemic.
China The government of China enforced early censorship to suppress information about COVID-19 and the dangers it poses to public health. There were criticisms that the epidemic was allowed to spread for weeks before efforts were undertaken to contain the virus. Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who alerted his colleagues about COVID-19 was censored and then detained for "spreading false rumors". He later succumbed to the virus after being infected by a patient. Amnesty International criticized that China's aggressive lobbying of the WHO included minimizing the severity of the outbreak.
Plague Inc., a mobile game that focuses on the simulation of global pandemics, was banned by the Cyberspace Administration of China on the grounds that it had "illegal content" and was promptly removed from all Chinese digital stores. Ndemic Creations, the game developer, said that it is unclear whether this was in connection to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that they had planned to work hard to get their game back into Chinese players' hands.
Israel On 3 October 2020, tens of thousands of Israelis came on streets in hundreds of regions across Israel, amidst a COVID-19 lockdown, to protest following the parliament's approval to a new law that curbed anti-government protests. People were barred from conducting such demonstrations more than 1 km from their homes, under the new law, which forced stricter social distancing rules. Critics called it a blow to freedom of speech. The demonstrations flouted the law, as it kept pressure on PM Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the pandemic and allegations of corruption.
Poland An experienced midwife working during the pandemic in a Polish hospital was fired after she published a report on Facebook on 18 March about the conditions of medical personnel and the hospital in relation to the pandemic. Reports came out afterwards that doctors were being forbidden from providing information to the media. On 25 March 2020, the Polish Ombudsman Adam Bodnar informed the Minister of Health that medical staff's freedom of speech and the public's right to know are guaranteed under Articles 2, 54 and 61 of the Polish Constitution and that firing or punishing doctors for informing the public during the pandemic could be a violation of the "obligatory standards".
On 26 March, Poland's secretary of state of the Ministry of Health, Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko, published a written statement forbidding voivodeship medical consultants from making statements related to COVID-19 unless they first consulted with the Ministry of Health or (GIS, the national health agency). A doctors' group, Porozumieniu Chirurgów SKALPEL, described the order as blackmail and said that it risked catastrophe.
Turkey Law enforcement agencies detained 19 social media users whose posts were "unfounded and provocative", causing panic and fear according to the officials. Some newspapers considered these actions to be censorship. As of 6 April, at least seven journalists, who were each reporting for local media, were detained for how they covered the pandemic, and the state media watchdog had fined at least three channels for their coverage of the outbreak, including the mainstream channel Habertürk, which was penalized after its medical expert stated that the low level of testing and the high rate of transmission of the virus meant there were many undiagnosed cases, greatly exceeding the government's confirmed case figures.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Turkish parliament accepted a bill which could enable the release of up to 100,000 prisoners, including people responsible for deaths. However, the law excludes Turkey's around 50,000 political prisoners, including journalists and human rights defenders, who are said to remain jailed despite overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions already posing severe health threat.
Turkmenistan The government of Turkmenistan outlawed the word "coronavirus" on media.
Social networks Various social networks applied anti-spam measures for content posted about SARS-CoV-2 and the pandemic. Facebook allegedly censored informative content about the virus. According to users, posts about COVID-19 from reliable sources of media were blocked and hidden from other users. Facebook claimed a bug was responsible for this, but conspiracies are circulating that this was done deliberately to suppress information.
YouTube demonetized several videos in which the term "corona" was used. The demonetization was cited under the rules of sensitive content.
Right to health The pandemic revealed deep inequities in capacity and access.
China In China, many patients had to be turned away from hospitals after hours of queuing due to the high number of ill people. Shortage of testing and treating material were reported.
Italy Due to the high volume of patient inflow in Italy, doctors were forced to decide on whether or not to treat the elderly, or leave them to die. A photo of a nurse who collapsed due to huge workload in an Italian hospital was widely circulated as a symbol of the overwhelmed system.
Libya In Libya, the medical situation was worsening amidst the ongoing war, where hospitals were constantly being attacked. In April 2020, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Libya, Yacoub El Hillo confirmed that 27 health facilities have been damaged and 14 close in five weeks. On April 6, UAE-backed forces of Khalifa Haftar launched a Grad rocket attack against the Al Khadra General Hospital and damaged the 400-bed facility, where 300 patients, including two COVID-19 patients, were being treated. The attack was condemned as a violation of international humanitarian law by Yacoub El Hillo.
Russian Federation Specialized hospitals were transferred for patients with respiratory infectious diseases. This has worsened the availability of medical care for patients with various serious diseases. According to the team of experts, this caused an increase in mortality that was many times higher than the death rate from pneumonia.
Freedom from discrimination
Racism and xenophobia
There have been increased reports of racism against Asian people, particularly against Chinese people in Europe and the Americas. The World Health Organization's Emergency Committee issued a statement advising all countries to be mindful of the "principles of Article 3 of the IHR (the International Health Regulations)," which the WHO says is a caution against "actions that promote stigma or discrimination," when conducting national response measures to the outbreak.
A Washington Post staff photographer captured a snapshot of US President Donald Trump's speech notes in which he had crossed out the word "coronavirus" and replaced it with the words "Chinese virus." Trump referred to COVID-19 as "Chinese virus" in his speeches amidst growing protests of racism from different quarters. However, he stated that he does not believe his statements were racist because the virus originated there, and he also stated that he was intending to counter Chinese propaganda which claimed that American soldiers originally brought the virus to China.
India has seen many cases of people from its north-east parts being called 'coronavirus' because of their racial similarities to the people of China, the country where the pandemic originated. This is in the backdrop of existing problems of racism that people from these regions continue to face. Indian government's Minister for State for Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju made a statement against the increasing instances of racist comments against the people of North-east India.
In June 2020, a report in the United Kingdom highlighted that ethnic minorities are at a higher risk of losing their lives due to COVID-19. On 5 June, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced to launch a statutory inquiry into racial inequalities, which have been exposed amidst a surge of COVID-19 cases in the UK. The human rights watchdog's investigation was to provide evidence-based information, compelled from government departments and organizations.
On June 30, an article from The Wall Street Journal revealed that the rates of hospitalization and death in America linked to COVID-19 have been observed to be higher for non-white groups even after adjusting for factors such as age and geography. In a report released by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studying the COVID-19 hospitalizations among American children, it was found that 40% of the studied hospitalized children were Hispanic and 33% were Black. The study concluded that minority communities were more at risk due to systemic social inequalities, such as economic instability and insurance status.
Stigmatization
People have reported experiencing social stigma after recovering from the illness. Some healthcare workers caring for individuals with COVID-19 have also reported experiencing mental health difficulties due to the fear of being stigmatized by their family and community.
Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious minority group based in South Korea, and its related members have faced discrimination and harassment due to its link to an initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Daegu, South Korea. The church reported about 4,000 instances of discrimination against its members, including some being fired from their jobs and some being abused by their spouses.