Nearly 30 human rights experts and officials from countries including China, Sweden, France, and Australia exchanged ideas on how to build a community with a shared future for humanity and carry out international cooperation in pandemic prevention and control at a seminar held online May 18.[more..]

A human rights webinar on international cooperation in fighting the COVID-19 and building a community with a shared future was held on May 18th. [more..]

The points I would like stressed: HR remain in force in time of crisis, even state emergency, state can only derogate to the extent strictly required by the situation, they should announce their intention to derogate in a timely manner. Prohibition of torture, right to life, prohibition of discrimination, are non-derogable. Derogation requires “public emergency which threatens the life of the nation”, it should reach the level of threatening the life of nation. Human rights law recognizes that national emergencies that do not amount to “threaten the life of the nation” may permit restrictions to be placed on the exercise of certain rights. Lockdown in many countries impose restrictions on freedoms, including freedom of movement (ICCPR Art.12), right to assembly (ICCPR Art. 21), and these restrictions must be strictly necessary, proportionate, non-discriminatory, have legal basis, and should be limited in time.[more..]

To conclude, three points: First, traditional culture has played a positive role in protecting people’s right to life, right to health in China. We can’t copy other countries’ model, need to find a new way to protect people’s dignity. Second, countries that share some same cultural backgrounds, like European countries, also the Asian countries like China, Japan Korea, they could collaborate more easily, they are more easily adapted to wearing face masks. Third, art works, music, literature has impact beyond boundaries of countries. Anti-discrimination is the key, is the cornerstone for international cooperation, we work together not just for ourselves but for others. [more..]

Under ECHR, ICCPR, some rights are non-derogable, some are. It means some rights cannot be departed from, but some UN Resolutions and conferences also say, we should not prioritize any rights. There are also differences between the North and the South, between East and West, we should make sure all of them are on the table at the same time. In addition they pointed out that maybe the right to life, right to health are paramount, and right to livelihood, you cannot confine populations on the daily basis, stop them from leaving their homes and making a living, then you confine them to death, restrictive measures should be reasonable, and take considerations local populations into consideration. [more..]

Human rights protection is one element that has gotten lost in the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and various restrictions have had an unseen effect on human rights. A conference organized by Southwest University of Political Science and Law aims to address these issues.[more..]

The global academic community descends on Southwestern China to focus on one of the lesser known dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic: human rights protection. Many local and foreign guests have joined in via video calls.[more..]