December 10 is World Human Rights Day, and the theme of 2020 is “Recovering Better – Stand Up for Human Rights”. This year’s theme is related to the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the need to put human rights at the center of recovery efforts and rebuild better homes.
On this occasion, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bachelet, pointed out at a press conference in Geneva that it is irresponsible for some politicians to politicize the COVID-19 pandemic and more fully condemnable.
To create a better future, political will is a key factor, which requires re-establishing trust and upholding human rights in all fields.
The pandemic affects all aspects of human rights.
The COVID-19 pandemic has a disastrous impact on national economies and the employment, income, education, health and food supply of hundreds of millions of people.
The development process of poverty reduction and the advancement of women and girls has suffered a major setback. The pandemic affects all aspects of human rights, including economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights.
The pandemic has exposed the cracks and vulnerabilities of society and has not focused on upholding human rights.
“Three Different Futures”
“In recent weeks, there have been extraordinary progress in vaccine development, which is proof of human intelligence and determination in times of crisis,” Bachelet said. Countries need not only to distribute these vaccines equitably around the world, but also need to rebuild their economies, repair the damage caused by the pandemic and address the gaps it exposes.
“We face three distinct futures: we may be in a worse situation than we started in this crisis, not even fully prepared for another shock to our systems; we may do everything we can to return to normalcy, but only to get us back to where we are today; or we can recover more OK.”
The slow pandemic prevention policies in some countries have led to the intensification of the pandemic.
Bachelet noted that some governments did not take timely and decisive action to curb the spread of the virus, did not pay enough attention to or conceal the pandemic.”
Surprisingly, to this day, some leaders are deliberately downplaying the impact of the pandemic, demeaning simple measures such as wearing masks and avoiding large gatherings. Some politicians are even talking about ‘herd immunity’ at random, as if losing hundreds of thousands of lives is a cost that can easily be afforded for the greater good.” “It’s irresponsible to politicize the COVID-19 pandemic in this way,” she said. “It’s totally reprehensible.” To make matters worse, the pandemic response did not bring people together, but in some places it led to further division. Scientific evidence and methods are not fully trusted, but conspiracy theories and disinformation are spread.
Domestic violence has increased during the pandemic. Women are seriously affected.
After the outbreak of the pandemic, a large proportion of women worked in the informal sector and the health care sector, and many had no choice but to withdraw from the labor market to take care of children, the elderly and the sick who no longer go to school. In some areas, women’s rights may go back decades. “If we are to recover better, women need to play a greater role in decision-making and prioritization,” Bachelet said.
Turn disaster into opportunity and create a better future
“The main factor we are in building the future is political will. Inequality needs to be addressed, including tax reform, to finance major socio-economic improvements. Similarly, the richer countries need to help poorer countries survive the crisis and make it better recover. “Fixing the frayed multilateralism system is crucial for recovery, and this must start with each country itself, and our world can only meet global challenges more than ever through global cooperation, and narrow nationalism will only undermine the overall recovery.” Bachelet stressed.
It is understood that December 10 of each year is World Human Rights Day. On December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the landmark document of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
