Human Rights and COVID-19

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Amid the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, our governments and public authorities are being pressed to make very difficult choices in extreme circumstances. In these challenging times, human rights can and should inform and strengthen the ways in which decisions are made, and how measures are put into practice.

We have collated our work on human rights and COVID-19 below.  We will update this page regularly. 

Read our full statement: Human Rights in a Time of Crisis.

Read our COVID-19 Business Continuity Update (18 March 2020).

 

 

General briefings, statements and letters

 

30 March 2020

2 April 2020

17 April 2020

  • Joint letter to Ruth Maguire, Convenor of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee (EHRiC) with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland (CYPCS)

27 April 2020

28 April 2020

4 May 2020

13 May 2020

18 May 2020

21 May 2020

If rights are ignored, vulnerable people not protected and supported, and decisions taken which inappropriately benefit some over others, then our societies will be weakened in the longer term.

Health and social care

 9 April 2020

Clinical guidance would be significantly enhanced by explicit consideration of and reference to human rights standards and principles, which legally underpin the duties on those on the frontline tasked with making difficult decisions at this time.

Prisons and places of detention

2 April 2020

21 April 2020

18 May 2020

People in prison are an extremely vulnerable population and those working in prisons are key frontline workers providing a vital public service. The epidemiological evidence is clear that prisons are places of high risk in the current pandemic.

Justice and policing

30 April 2020

The Commission is also a member of the Independent Advisory Group on Police Scotland's use of emergency powers.  

The Commission welcomes the Cabinet Secretary’s approach in consulting key stakeholders to discuss workable solutions to the challenges the coronavirus pandemic poses to Scotland’s criminal justice system.

Economic, social & cultural rights

6 May 2020

Legislation and regulations should be scrutinised in terms of their impact on people’s economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to food and the right to health.

Economic recovery

29 April 2020

The Commission and the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) call for a human rights based approach to budget setting and spending decisions following the coronavirus pandemic.

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Resources and rights are inextricably linked. It is vital therefore that decisions about economic recovery from COVID-19 are informed by and rooted in a comprehensive and robust rights-based analysis.