The legal environment is considered one of the most important cases to shed light on, especially under the developed circumstances of COVID-19. The International Human Rights law guarantees every person the highest level of physical health, and it obligates the countries to take measures to prevent the threat to the public health and ensures the best health care delivery.
The human rights law also recognize that the restrictions that are imposed on some rights, with regards to the serious threats to public health and emergencies, can be justified if it has a legal basis, and can be necessary if it is based on scientific evidence, and its application cannot be with any kind of discrimination or arbitrary, for a specific period of time with all the respect to the human dignity, and can always be reviewed in order to achieve the desired goal.
It is obvious that the widespread COVID-19 and its danger, amount to public health threat, and can justify constraints to some rights, like imposing quarantine, isolations, and movement restrictions.
At the same time, careful attention to human rights would be important; Such as non-discrimination (and human rights principles), transparency and respect for human dignity, all of this is to promote an effective response in the middle of the inevitable turmoil of crisis and to reduce the damage that may arise from the imposition of loose measures that do not take into account the above-mentioned criteria.
This document provides an overview of the human rights concerns imposed by the Coronavirus outbreak, depending on examples of the response of Governments till now, and recommends ways in which governments and other actors can adopt them to guarantee respect for human rights in their fight against the global epidemic.
May be raising questions about the seriousness of countries in fulfilling their obligations, to respect and protect the right to health, which is one of the fundamental human rights mentioned in the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1966, and entered into force in 1976; and has been ratified by 170 countries until then.
More than 40 years have passed since countries assumed the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
According to article 12 of the Covenant, countries recognized that ensuring the exercise of this right obligates them to work on the prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, and other diseases, with respect to good preparations for the provision of service and medical care for everyone in case of illness, including improvements to all aspects of the health environments around us.
As is well known, the implementation of the right to health is progressive, as an economic, social, and cultural right whose implementation requires adequate financial resources, sometimes exceed the countries’ potential, especially if it is among the developing countries. Provided that the country use the maximum of its domestic resources to accomplish obligation in the field of health, so that it may deserve international support from the specialized bodies of the United Nations such as global health or donor countries.
What support this principle, which depends on the development aspects, and respect by countries for their rights and freedoms, is the fundamental criterion for measuring the urbanization and progress of countries.
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