Weite an essay about "Precautionary measures adopted by India to tackle Covid 19(Not less than 800 words)
Answers
Explanation:
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that an outbreak of the viral disease COVID-19 – first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China – had reached the level of a global pandemic. Citing concerns with “the alarming levels of spread and severity,” the WHO called for governments to take urgent and aggressive action to stop the spread of the virus.
International human rights law guarantees everyone the right to the highest attainable standard of health and obligates governments to take steps to prevent threats to public health and to provide medical care to those who need it. Human rights law also recognizes that in the context of serious public health threats and public emergencies threatening the life of the nation, restrictions on some rights can be justified when they have a legal basis, are strictly necessary, based on scientific evidence and neither arbitrary nor discriminatory in application, of limited duration, respectful of human dignity, subject to review, and proportionate to achieve the objective.
The scale and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic clearly rises to the level of a public health threat that could justify restrictions on certain rights, such as those that result from the imposition of quarantine or isolation limiting freedom of movement. At the same time, careful attention to human rights such as non-discrimination and human rights principles such as transparency and respect for human dignity can foster an effective response amidst the turmoil and disruption that inevitably results in times of crisis and limit the harms that can come from the imposition of overly broad measures that do not meet the above criteria.
This document provides an overview of human rights concerns posed by the coronavirus outbreak, drawing on examples of government responses to date, and recommends ways governments and other actors can respect human rights in their response.
Contents
COVID-19
Applicable International Standards
Human Rights Concerns
Protect freedom of expression and ensure access to critical information
Ensure quarantines, lockdowns, and travel bans comply with rights norms
Protect people in custody and in institutions
Ensure protection of health workers
Fulfill the right to education—even if schools are temporarily closed
Address disproportionate impacts on women and girls
Root out discrimination and stigma, protect patient confidentiality
Ensure marginalized populations can access health care without discrimination
Protect community and civil society organizations
Promote the rights to water and sanitation
Ensure humanitarian aid continues
Target economic relief to assist low-wage workers
What is Human Rights Watch doing?
COVID-19
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a new coronavirus first identified in December 2019. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses known to cause respiratory infections. There is no vaccine yet to prevent COVID-19, and no specific treatment for it, other than managing the symptoms.
By mid-March 2020, more than 150 countries had reported cases of COVID-19, and the WHO reported there were more than 200,000 cases worldwide. More than 7,000 people had died and the numbers were continuing to rise at an alarming rate.
Applicable International Standards
Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which most countries have adopted, everyone has the right to “the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” Governments are obligated to take effective steps for the “prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases.”
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which monitors state compliance with the covenant, has stated that:
The right to health is closely related to and dependent upon the realization of other human rights, as contained in the International Bill of Rights, including the rights to food, housing, work, education, human dignity, life, non-discrimination, equality, the prohibition against torture, privacy, access to information, and the freedoms of association, assembly and movement. These and other rights and freedoms address integral components of the right to health.