Human Rights Amid Coronavirus
HUMAN RIGHTS AMID CORONAVIRUS
- Devesh Kapoor, Symbiosis Law School, Pune
The Tablighi Jamaat has taken over the Coronavirus discussion, with 647 positive coronavirus cases that were linked to it coming up in a mere 2 days. With the incident taking front row in the television news coverage, the obvious result was the heat up of communal tensions and lack of confidence and trust between Hindus and Muslims, as was the scene right before the Coronavirus epidemic, due to the Anti-CAA agitations. Discrimination against Muslims was a predictable result and it was achieved, in Rajasthan, when a baby died after a doctor refused to treat the mother of the child owing to her religion.
Coronavirus by its very existence brings up a competition that will be important not only during it but especially right after it. What caught fire due to globalisation, will leave behind a cloud of xenophobia. But xenophobia is not the only issue that gets the human rights activists ringing. Arbitrary arrests, censorship claims, restriction of movement and failure to uphold fundamental rights have been major points of human rights under the coronavirus pandemic.
As the pandemic started in China, it was reported that China did not respond to the early phase of its outbreak. Reports ranged from suppression of information regarding the spread of coronavirus to the extent of the Supreme People’s Court of China declaring coronavirus as a rumour, to illegal detention of Li Wenliang, the whistleblower who leaked information about the spread of the coronavirus and was arrested under a charge of spreading false rumours.
This issue of information suppression was also reported from Poland, where doctors were being fired or punished for providing information to the public in violation of the Polish Constitution (Article 2, Article 54, Article 61). Ministry of Health of Poland issued a statement demanding that medical statements regarding SARS-CoV-2 must be approved by the Ministry.
Another major human rights controversy surrounding coronavirus is the refusal to treat certain patients suffering from the disease. This controversy gained full steam in Italy, where reports started pouring in regarding Italian doctors preferring to treat younger patients and refusing to treat elder patients owing to overload.
England enacted new laws to deal with coronavirus, which allows them lawful detention of any person the authorities suspect as a risk to infect others. It also makes anyone who does not follow detention orders or those who flee isolation ‘criminals’. This, on the one hand, keeping public order and health in mind, is necessary, but on the other hand, can easily become a space for violation of human rights and lack of redressal for them.
The biggest cause of worry, in my opinion, is the rise in xenophobia and racism due to coronavirus. Such incidents have been reported in Africa (Egypt, Cameroon), Asia (Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Jordan, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Palestine, China and India), Europe (Croatia, France, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, UK, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands), North America (USA and Canada), South America (Bolivia and Argentina) and Australia (including New Zealand).
It is not hard to deduce therefore that it is a global reaction to the pandemic, that started from Wuhan in China and spread to all parts of the globe. The case study of its effect need not be that far. Let’s take India.
Students from North East India in metropolitan cities like New Delhi (Kirori Mal College) and Mumbai (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) faced harassment by being called terms related to coronavirus.
Xenophobia also has risen tantamount against China. The BJP West Bengal State Unit President Dilip Ghosh and the Islamic cleric Ilyas Sharfuddin made a statement that the virus is a punishment by God against China. This xenophobia is also clear in Donald Trump’s statement of terming the coronavirus as the “Chinese Virus”. Such statements are the fuel to the xenophobia fire and create an atmosphere of fear amongst the local population against people from China or Chinese descent. It takes away their right to being given equal treatment in society and their right to not be prejudiced against.
Another major form of human rights violation came in India, in the city of Bareilly, with the migrant labourers, who were sprayed on with chemicals such as chlorine to disinfect them when they travelled during the lockdown phase.
This brings up an important question, as this is in complete contrast with the treatment of the Indian authorities vis-à-vis the Indian diaspora and students that we received from Coronavirus hit countries, as improper checks and lack of testing led to a spread of coronavirus from the reception of such international immigration. The difference can be summed up in their economic status and the view thatdisease is directly correlated to the poor, even if the rich in this case hold a much higher risk of carrying the disease, owing to their possibility of travelling to such countries.
Human Rights became an important topic concerning the primary response by various countries: the lockdown. While the right to travel freely came under direct attack due to the lockdown, it had other attached issues to it. In India, the lockdown jammed all modes of transport for people to go back to their homes, which became a major point of concern and worry for migrant labourers.
Migrant labourers could not work in metropolitan cities as there was no work being offered during the lockdown. With no pay and no money to send back home, they would have no option than to travel back home, which they could not via transport, so on foot, hundreds of kilometres were covered. Human Rights were seriously violated in situations like these. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court denied payment of wages to migrant labourers as they were being provided with food at shelter homes. The point that firstly, Right to Life is not a mere animal existence, coupled with the fact that many or most of such migrant labourers are lone breadwinners of their respective households was completely forgotten.
The human rights become an important point to look at for the quarantined, as they have to be provided with hygienic surroundings, communication facilities and medical support. The Seven Hills hospital photographs caught attention at the lack of governmental focus in maintaining hygiene in the quarantine facilities, which is a gross human rights violation.
The scenario is already bad, but this is not even considering the high risk of refugees and other displaced persons, who live in overwhelmed and under-capacity settlement camps, where a single infected person could spread the virus very quickly, putting everyone’s life at risk.
Human Rights, in such circumstances, become a matter of convenience, where neither are the rights equal nor are all humans. The rich and privileged have a much larger command and therefore, much larger respect in the political forum and simply put, their concerns, issues and quite frankly, their lives are more important than the underprivileged. This has become clearer with the pandemic. The same distinction is with the elderly and younger lives in Italy.
The lockdown creates a conundrum between health and economy, but it also creates one between health and human rights. During health pandemics, the governments have to be open to reach far and wide and provide a support system to the entirety of their population.
REFERENCES
[1] Shruti Jain, “Rajasthan: Baby Dies After Doctor Allegedly Refused to Treat Pregnant Muslim Woman” (The Wire, 5 Apr 2020) <https://thewire.in/communalism/rajasthan-muslim-woman-baby-dies-doctor>accessed on 7 Apr 2020
[2] People’s Court News Media HQ, "治理有关新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎的谣言问题，这篇文章说清楚!"’ (xinhuanet.com, 28 Jan 2020) <http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-01/28/c_1125508460.htm> accessed on 6 Apr 2020
[3] MariuszMielcarek, "Pielęgniarki - położnanapisałajak jest w szpitalu. Zostałazwolniona!" (Portal PielęgniarekiPołożnych, 26 Mar 2020) <https://www.pielegniarki.info.pl/article/view/id/10720> accessed on 7 Apr 2020
[4] Jason Horowitz, "Italy\'s Health Care System Groans Under Coronavirus — a Warning to the World". (The New York Times, 12 March 2020) <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/europe/12italy-coronavirus-health-care.html> accessed on 7 Apr 2020
[5] Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations, 2020
[6] Omar Rashid, “In Bareilly, migrants returning home sprayed with \'disinfectant\'” (The Hindu, 30 Mar 2020) <https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/coronavirus-in-bareilly-migrants-forced-to-take-bath-in-the-open-with-sanitiser/article31204430.ece> accessed on 7 Apr 2020
