The human rights impact of COVID-19

The Oxford Human Rights Hub and team members have been contributing to the ongoing discussion surrounding the human rights impact of COVID-19 and supporting efforts to respond to the virus. 

The Hub submitted a report on Gender Equality and COVID-19 to a Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry, highlighting the need for the government to ensure all European Convention rights are enjoyed without discrimination on grounds of gender and other status. The report proposed a series of recommendations in relation to three key areas: internet access, gender-based violence, and housing. The Hub has also been publishing a series of blogs on COVID-19, highlighted here, and is working on a series of podcasts.

Jason Brickhill, Research Director of the Hub, has been leading an initiative with a group of Zimbabwean students at Oxford and other young Zimbabweans in the diaspora to launch the Zimbabwe COVID-19 Support Hub, which seeks to amplify and support local efforts to respond to the virus. It features a website and social media platforms.

Gautam Bhatia, Managing Blog Editor, has published two pieces on India’s response to Covid-19 in Verfassungblog and the Hindustan Times. Nomfundo Ramalekana, Blog Editor, and Professor Sandy Fredman, Director of the Hub, wrote for the South African Daily Maverick on discrimination against non-citizens in the delivery of the government’s SME relief package. Professor Fredman also gave  a talk on the effects of the lock-down on inequalities in South Africa as part of a virtual workshop on The Social Justice implications and constitutional compliance of policy responses to the Corona - COVID-19 pandemic organized by Professor Thuli Madonsela at Stellenbosch University on 2 April.  

Emilie McDonnell, Hub researcher, has published a piece for the Refugee Law Initiative Blog on whether COVID-19 will cause us to re-think the global (im)mobility regime.