How to Prevent the Abuse of Human Rights Through Public Health Emergencies Like Covid-19

The abuse of emergency provisions over the past four years has revealed a fraught relationship between the declaration of a state of emergency and protection of human rights.

On Monday 1 April 2024, the Better Way Today session of the World Council for Health (WCH) was presented by WCH Law and Activism Committee Chair, Shabnam Palesa Mohamed, a human rights activist, journalist, and lawyer from South Africa. 

Introducing the WCH Legal Brief

Shabnam drew attention to a groundbreaking legal brief, Preventing the Abuse of Public Health Emergencies, published by WCH in February 2024. This document explains how International Human Rights Law (IHRL) can enable ‘we the people’ to defend our inalienable rights during declared states of emergency, such as the Covid-19 event. 

This knowledge is vital, as the imminent promulgation of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) pandemic treaty and amended international health regulations will give WHO the power to force governments, when faced with future public health emergencies, to impose even more tyrannical measures than those implemented during Covid-19.

The authors of the Legal Brief are convinced that, had the general public, legal practitioners, health practitioners, politicians, and the media been properly informed about the requirements of IHRL (in particular the prerequisites necessary to declare a legitimate state of emergency), the gross violations of human rights that took place during Covid would not have been possible. 

Please watch the full presentation, which provides a detailed overview of the Legal Brief. Here are some of the highlights:

• The aims of the Legal brief are to educate the public on how to: 

  • determine a bona fide public health emergency,

  • present the legal criteria and minimum thresholds necessary to declare a legitimate and lawful state of emergency (and prove that these were never met during Covid-19),

  • prevent the future abuse of emergency provisions, and 

  • confirm that it is never acceptable to violate certain fundamental human rights and norms. 

• The Legal Brief draws on human rights principles relating to public health emergencies that are contained in, among other documents, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Siracusa Principles, and the Paris Minimum Standards.

• For a state of emergency to be lawfully declared, the cause must be something that threatens the life of the nation. 

• According to international law, four criteria must be met before it can be said that a situation ‘threatens the life of the nation’. The threat must:

  • Be actual or imminent,

  • Involve the whole nation,

  • Place the continuation of the organised life of society at risk of extinction, and

  • Be so extraordinary that ordinary measures for protecting public health and order are clearly inadequate.

• Covid-19 never met any of these criteria! Governments used the declaration of an unjustifiable state of emergency as a legal instrument to deny people their human rights and freedoms and to grant themselves extraordinary powers. 

• Because the four criteria were not met, all public health measures that infringed on human rights (lockdowns, masking, vaccine mandates, etc.) represented illegal breaches of IHRL.

• All states have a legal obligation to enact public policy that protects, respects, and ensures fundamental human rights. Also, certain norms and fundamental rights can never be violated, not even during a state of emergency. 

• Recognising the need for an informed public that is able to participate in defending their fundamental human rights, the Legal Brief recommends the following actions: 

  • Educating the public regarding the four criteria necessary to declare a legitimate state of emergency. 

  • Establishing IHRL panels to monitor adherence and communicate violations. 

  • Establishing activist groups to undertake proactive education and advocacy actions. 

  • Lawful actions to litigate and to use natural law to assert our rights. 

Never again!

The abuse of emergency provisions over the past four years has revealed a fraught relationship between the declaration of a state of emergency and protection of human rights. After the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020, governments across the world – ignoring IHRL and lawful limits to policymaking – instituted severe emergency measures that resulted in widespread violations of basic human rights, including lack of access to health care services, shortages of medical supplies, confinement and restriction of movement, neglect of the elderly brutal crackdowns on protests, and even arbitrary arrests. 

How do we ensure that this never happens again? The inexplicable silence and inaction from the United Nations Human Rights Commission, major human rights NGOs, and other such bodies over the past four years is a cause for extreme concern. There appear to be no ultimate institutional safeguards in place to ensure that emergency powers are used for the purpose of preserving the rule of law. Under these circumstances, it is up to ‘we the people’. We will stop this injustice by knowing our rights, and we will protect our rights by acting on them. 

In response to the need for action, the WCH intends to launch an international Health Rights Monitoring and Reporting Panel (IHRMRP). This multidisciplinary body will comprise experts from various fields, including civil society, health, law, advocacy, academia, media, and international relations. This group will be responsible for monitoring, documenting, and reporting on adherence to health human rights standards, and identifying instances of violations around the world. 

You can find out more and support this critical initiative by contacting Shabnam via the WCH website or by email at shabnam@thewc4h.org. 

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Let us remember that WE are the 99%. We are taking our power back and we are co-creating a Better World. 

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