The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG , UNITED NATIONS
UN High Commissioner For Human Rights - Pandemic Report
“Central role of the State during pandemics and other health emergencies is to mount a robust health response while upholding human rights” says top UN human rights official
At the opening session of today’s UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet presented a report on the central role of the State in responding to pandemics. One of the report’s key message is that failure to meet human rights obligations undermined the resilience of health systems as well as health emergency preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.
“The report highlights that the central role of the State during pandemics and other health emergencies is to mount a robust health response while upholding human rights”, said Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “It also stresses that ‘the resilience of health systems and national economies has been undermined, to a great extent, by the failure to adequately invest in meeting human rights obligations.”
The report offers concrete recommendations on how to recover better with human rights-based recovery efforts.
“The loss and distress have been immense”, said Michelle Bachelet. “As of last week, there had been over 176 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported globally to the World Health Organization with over 3.8 million deaths. The pandemic continues to pose an extraordinary threat to societies worldwide, both as a public health emergency and a socioeconomic crisis with far-reaching consequences”.
In addition to the incalculable loss in human lives, the economic cost of the pandemic has been catastrophic.
“Around 255 million jobs are estimated to have been lost during 2020, nearly four times the figure of the global economic crisis in 2008”, said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Bachelet. “Women have been more severely affected than men in all regions and all income groups. The estimate is that the pandemic may have pushed up to 150 million people into extreme poverty by the beginning of 2021. Global hunger is also on the rise. Over 130 million people became more vulnerable to undernourishment last year”.
Informal sector workers, most of whom are women, have been hit particularly hard. In some regions they have lost up to 81 per cent of their income in the first months of the crisis. According to the report, marginalized groups have been affected the most by the pandemic.
“The impact on women and girls, older people, people with disabilities, LGBTIQ+, people deprived of liberty, among other groups, has been particularly severe”, said Ms. Bachelet. “Overall, the pandemic has either disrupted or reversed hard-won progress on achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals”.
Vaccines had become a new frontier on the road to equality as developing countries had received only 0.2 per cent of doses of all administered COVID-19 vaccines, taking the world further away from achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ms Bachelet reminded that ”vaccines against COVID-19 must be considered as a global public good. The universal and equitable access and distribution of vaccines is likely the strongest determinant of whether and how soon we can control the pandemic”. She added that “if radical steps are not taken to protect economic, social and cultural rights and support low-income countries, the outlook remains bleak”.
In the interactive discussion that followed the report presentation, speakers emphasized that COVID-19 impacted not only the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, but also civil and political rights - the pandemic must not be used as a pretense by governments to create undue restrictions on democracy or commit human rights violations.
-ends-
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a sunny day.
- Wide shot, meeting room at the UN in Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “The report highlights that the central role of the State during pandemics and other health emergencies is to mount a robust health response while upholding human rights. It also stresses that ‘the resilience of health systems and national economies has been undermined, to a great extent, by the failure to adequately invest in meeting human rights obligations’.”
- Medium shot, podium with speakers filmed from behind
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “The loss and distress have been immense. As of last week, there had been over 176 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported globally to the World Health Organization with over 3.8 million deaths. The pandemic continues to pose an extraordinary threat to societies worldwide, both as a public health emergency and a socioeconomic crisis with far-reaching consequences”.
- Medium shot, delegate in the meeting room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Around 255 million jobs are estimated to have been lost during 2020, nearly four times the figure of the global economic crisis in 2008. Women have been more severely affected than men in all regions and all income groups. The estimate is that the pandemic may have pushed up to 150 million people into extreme poverty by the beginning of 2021. Global hunger is also on the rise. Over 130 million people became more vulnerable to undernourishment last year”.
- Medium shot, attendance in the meeting room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “The impact on women and girls, older people, people with disabilities, LGBTIQ+, people deprived of liberty, among other groups, has been particularly severe. Overall, the pandemic has either disrupted or reversed hard-won progress on achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals”.
- Medium shot, attendance in the meeting room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: ”Vaccines against COVID-19 must be considered as a global public good. The universal and equitable access and distribution of vaccines is likely the strongest determinant of whether and how soon we can control the pandemic. If radical steps are not taken to protect economic, social and cultural rights and support low-income countries, the outlook remains bleak”.
- Wide shot, meeting room
- Medium shot, Michelle Bachelet at podium
- Medium shot, Michelle Bachelet writing at podium
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Tuesday UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk was outraged by the repeated large-scale attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN warns against repeating abuses in South Kordofan that occurred in El Fasher.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Mozambique floods heighten disease, malnutrition risks – UN agencies
Catastrophic flooding in Mozambique is causing massive disruption to lives and livelihoods across the country, increasing the risk of disease and exposing urban areas to crocodiles, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OCHA
Yemen: Children are dying and it’s going to get worse, aid veteran warns
In Yemen, renewed political instability threatens and economic woes linked to the war to complicate the already difficult task of helping vulnerable people suffering from deepening hunger, illness and displacement, the UN's top aid official there said on Monday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , IFRC
Ukraine: Families in ‘survival mode’ amid Russian strikes and -18°C cold
Families across Ukraine are in “constant survival mode” amid ongoing waves of Russian missile and drone strikes that have left blocks without power for days at a time, while temperatures plunge to a deadly -18°C (-0.4°F), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence urges Iranian authorities to end violent repression and calls for accountability.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Gaza: A ceasefire that ‘still buries children’ is not enough, says UNICEF
Airstrikes, drone strikes and hypothermia are among the lethal conditions prevailing in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with more than 100 children killed since early October, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
At the UN bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Marta Hurtado commented on the widespread repression and intimidation against political opposition ahead of the general elections in Uganda.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Aid agencies marked 1,000 days of war in Sudan on Friday with a grim reminder that the conflict has created the world’s biggest hunger crisis and largest displacement emergency. Every day, civilians have been “paying the price for a war they did not choose”, said the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, UN Human Rights spokesperson, made the following comments at the bi-weekly press briefing of the United Nations on the United States’ intervention in Venezuela.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR
Venezuela: US military intervention ‘far from victory for human rights’, makes world less safe – UN rights office
The UN rights office (OHCHR) on Tuesday expressed concern over the situation in Venezuela following the United States military operation and seizure of President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, insisting that the move runs counter to international law and damages global security.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
As fighting spreads across Sudan in a dangerous new escalation, "people are scared, people are fleeing their homes," the UN migration agency, IOM, said on Friday, noting that more than 50,000 people have fled attacks and violence since late October in Kordofan region alone.