The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is a serious global health crisis that has already caused several hundred thousand deaths worldwide and continues to be a threat to our health and livelihoods.

Millions have been, and millions more will be, infected. Measures to contain the spread of the virus are vital, but they also bear potential for new risks. Public health aims can justify temporary restrictions to certain rights, including freedom of movement and freedom of peaceful assembly. Advice by medical authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO), and government officials should be followed to protect the population, in particular those who are most at risk because of age, pre-existing conditions, or other factors. 

Unfortunately, we are observing a worrying trend in the East and Horn of Africa sub-region, as well as globally: under the pretext of combating the COVID-19, human rights are unduly restricted in various ways. DefendDefenders stresses that States continue to be duty bearers and to hold obligations to respect, protect, and fulfil human rights. Any restrictions to rights must be temporary, lawful, non-discriminatory, strictly necessary, and proportionate to the threat. They must not outlast the pandemic. 

Serious violations have also been reported in relation to governments’ handling of the crisis, including police brutality in enforcing the lockdown (including beatings and killings), failure to take protection measures for prison inmates, and censorship and intimidation of those, including journalists, who report information not in line with, or challenging, official narratives. States of the sub-region have also failed to take measures to combat incitement to hatred and violence, in particular against LGBTI persons, and to acknowledge the surge in gender-based violence, in particular domestic and intimate partner violence, that has accompanied confinement measures.