GC Human Rights Preparedness

While developed nations are on track in immunising their citizens against COVID-19, Africa lags far behind. The continent needs more supplies but governments and scientific institutions must try harder to dispel widespread public mistrust causing high levels of vaccine hesitancy.

Lebanon’s COVID-19 national vaccination campaign, launched in February 2021, covers all residents, including refugees and migrants. Nevertheless, favouritism in the vaccine roll-out and limited access to information and resources remains a major hindrance for refugee and migrant groups.

It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic presents a threat to international peace and security, particularly in Africa, which continues to shoulder the bulk of world hostilities and intrastate armed conflict. A conversation around strategies to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in this context is therefore critical.

The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, recently explained the basis of an international law obligation to provide consular assistance to victims or purported victims of trafficking. This development provides clarity on the right of African women migrant domestic workers stranded abroad to demand consular assistance from their government representatives.

There is a direct correlation between the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of violence against women in Mauritius. Domestic violence is a pandemic within the pandemic which often gets blurred out in discourse and policy. There is an urgent call for action to address this chaotic situation.

Restrictions introduced to protect public health at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic had devastating consequences for the access to sexual and reproductive health services around the world. Conservative governments have cynically used COVID-19 to restrict reproductive rights. Are there any positive developments that can give us hope?

People living with HIV can face difficulties in accessing HIV/AIDS treatments and services; restrictive measures adopted by states in combating the COVID-19 pandemic aggravate their circumstance. The impact of these measures poses a substantial threat to health systems and programmes designed to fast track the elimination of HIV/AIDS by 2030.