The Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU) and the Open Dialogue Foundation published the joint report The Toll of COVID-19 on Human Rights: Selected Countries and Territories Worldwide. The report provides an overview of human rights and freedom concerns posed by the coronavirus outbreak in some of the countries we and our partners operate in, notably China, Kazakhstan, Iran, Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkey, and the illegally occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea.
Topics include the worrying relationship between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese government, the lack of transparency of the policies adopted by the selected countries, the harassment against journalists, bloggers, and civil society activists, the effect of the pandemic on particularly vulnerable people such as prisoners, the abuse of digital surveillance, and the systematic disinformation and propaganda campaigns by several regimes.
The report is divided in three major sections: Upholding Human Rights amid COVID-19; Case-studies on the Human Rights Implications of COVID-19; and Recommendations. The period of time covered by the report is from 11 March to 22 June 2020.
The Arrested Lawyers Initiative and the Center for Civil Liberties contributed to the report with information on Turkey and the illegally occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea respectively.