PRESS RELEASE

Impact of emergency measures on human rights and democracy key focus of new OSCE/ODIHR report

WARSAW, 17 July 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic has been a formative experience for all humanity and a health emergency of global proportions, presenting a huge challenge to national leaders, health systems, and citizens. The findings of a new report by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) shows that it has also been a test to our democracies and the respect for human rights to which countries across the OSCE committed many years ago.

“This unprecedented stress test has demonstrated how robust democratic institutions can deal successfully with crisis situations. Sadly, we have also seen cases where countries have used the pandemic as a pretext to roll back democratic standards, erode fundamental freedoms and human rights and curtail the rule of law,” said ODIHR Director Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir. “It’s particularly worrying that the pandemic is having such a disproportionate affect on groups who were already vulnerable. National leaders need to do all they can to ensure that their situation does not deteriorate further as we all try to exit this period of crisis.”​

It is clear that governments needed to act swiftly to protect their populations from the COVID-19 pandemic, and that this often demanded extraordinary measures. States across the OSCE region limited movement and assembly and right to liberty, which in turn had a significant impact on the functioning of parliaments, courts and the conduct of elections, as well as the ability of national human rights institutions and civil society to play their essential role as advocates and watchdogs.

However, as ODIHR has noted in a series of statements and publications in recent months, a state of emergency must be proportionate to its aim, and only remain in place for as long as absolutely necessary. There is no situation in which it can be necessary, legitimate or proportionate to dismantle the separation of powers that lies at the core of any democracy, and countries now need to restore democratic safeguards and guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms.

At the same time, the disruptive changes to our lives have had a bigger impact on some people more than others. The pandemic has not only affected people at risk of becoming seriously ill, but also the millions who have lost their jobs, been isolated from friends and families, trapped with abusive partners, or become victims of hate crime as prejudices tipped over into discrimination or violence.

To enable a far-reaching analysis of the impact of the emergency measures and offer recommendations to improve the situation, ODIHR began early on to collect and collate information gathered from across the 57 countries of the OSCE region. Today’s report aims to help states learn lessons from the current pandemic in order to strengthen their institutions ahead of the many challenges of the future.

The OSCE commitments give ODIHR a special responsibility to serve as a clearing house for information on states of emergency and other aspects relevant to the COVID-19 response. The Moscow Document (1991) stipulates that OSCE countries notify ODIHR when a state of emergency is declared, as well as any temporary limitations to countries’ international human rights obligations. Today’s report is based on this information, as well as research undertaken by ODIHR experts covering all areas of the Office’s mandate.

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