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COVID-19: States should not abuse emergency measures to suppress human rights – UN experts
United Nations High Commissioner For Human Rights ^ | March16, 2020 | UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Posted on 04/26/2020 5:38:07 AM PDT by TheConservativeBanker

GENEVA (16 March 2020) – UN human rights experts* today urged States to avoid overreach of security measures in their response to the coronavirus outbreak and reminded them that emergency powers should not be used to quash dissent.

“While we recognize the severity of the current health crisis and acknowledge that the use of emergency powers is allowed by international law in response to significant threats, we urgently remind States that any emergency responses to the coronavirus must be proportionate, necessary and non-discriminatory,” the experts said.

Their appeal echoes the recent call by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to put #HumanRights at the centre of #CoronavirusOutbreak response.

Declarations of states of emergency, whether for health or security reasons, have clear guidance from international law, the UN experts said. “The use of emergency powers must be publicly declared and should be notified to the relevant treaty bodies when fundamental rights including movement, family life and assembly are being significantly limited.”

“Moreover, emergency declarations based on the Covid-19 outbreak should not be used as a basis to target particular groups, minorities, or individuals. It should not function as a cover for repressive action under the guise of protecting health nor should it be used to silence the work of human rights defenders.

“Restrictions taken to respond to the virus must be motivated by legitimate public health goals and should not be used simply to quash dissent.”

Some States and security institutions may find the use of emergency powers attractive because it offers shortcuts, the experts said. “To prevent such excessive powers to become hardwired into legal and political systems, restrictions should be narrowly tailored and should be the least intrusive means to protect public health.”

Finally, in countries where the virus is waning, authorities must seek to return life to normal and must avoid excessive use of emergency powers to indefinitely regulate day-to-day life, they said.

“We encourage States to remain steadfast in maintaining a human rights-based approach to regulating this pandemic, in order to facilitate the emergence of healthy societies with rule of law and human rights protections,” the UN experts said.

ENDS


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine; Politics; Reference
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; leftist; shutdown
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To: TheConservativeBanker

Those who are not frightened often become dangerous however you have the option.


21 posted on 04/26/2020 8:58:29 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: Vaduz
On what basis do you make the judgement that people who want to resume normality are dangerous to those who choose to self isolate. I must admit that it sends me up the wall to see and hear Americans who are so frightened that they meekly consent to having God given, Constitutionally guaranteed rights taken away based on flimsy science and models which have been (and continue to be) so grossly inaccurate as to have no credibility. They then meekly listen to corrupt, incompetent politicians piously tell us that they will spoon feed our liberties back to us when they decide to no matter what we think.
22 posted on 04/26/2020 9:15:28 AM PDT by TheConservativeBanker ($)
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To: TheConservativeBanker

It’s not a matter of being frightened it’s a matter of common sense with a virus that has a high risk and it’s not a matter being a shut in one can do many thing without being in a mob of fools.


23 posted on 04/26/2020 12:25:12 PM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: Vaduz

I assume that you are the arbiter of common sense and that other educated people who disagree with you are fools?


24 posted on 04/26/2020 12:31:24 PM PDT by TheConservativeBanker ($)
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To: TheConservativeBanker

Educated people you mean like the me me mob or experts such a Obama&Co.


25 posted on 04/26/2020 1:03:25 PM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: Vaduz

Educated people like those who analyze data and reach conclusions different than yours (Like scholars from Stanford, Oxford, University of Southern California). I guess that you really do believe that you are the sole arbiter of common sense. Here is a little data to put COVID 19 into historical perspective:

It might be useful to compare COVID 19 statistics to the 1957 - 1958 H2N2 (influenza). Deaths 116,000 out of a US population of ~170 million. (at the same deaths per million, that would be approximately 232,000 today). Global deaths of more than 1 million globally when the world population was approximately 2.9 billion (would be equivalent to about 2.3 million deaths today. There were no lockdowns during that pandemic. COVID 19 is not trivial, but is not frightening compared to other pandemics.

However, I suppose that your “common sense” trumps data and statistical analysis.


26 posted on 04/26/2020 1:15:16 PM PDT by TheConservativeBanker ($)
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To: TheConservativeBanker

Educated people like those who analyze data and reach conclusions.

You mean like the year 200 panic,educated people bigger mistakes then anyone else at a higher price.
Uneducated people for your list Foed,Edison,Tesla....................................................................................................................................................................................


27 posted on 04/27/2020 7:36:03 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: TheConservativeBanker

For the first time that I can recall, I am in some agreement with “UN experts”.


28 posted on 04/27/2020 7:38:19 AM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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