The Coronavirus Human Rights Crackdown

Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

During this state of emergency, some governments -- many in fact -- are using this time as a pretext to further consolidate power, crack down on a free press, and restrict civil liberties. This is happening in authoritarian countries, but also some democracies.

Philippe Bolopion is the deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch. He is on the line with me to discuss how, exactly, regimes around the world are using the coronavirus pandemic to justify crackdowns and human rights abuse. We kick off discussing the example of Hungary: a parliament controlled by the illiberal Prime Minister, Viktor Orban recently passed a sweeping measure giving Orban near-dictatorial powers. We also discuss other examples of leaders invoking COVID-19 to entrench themselves in power.

This pandemic seems to be serving as an accelerant to certain negative trends in global human rights, trends we were seeing previous to the virus. Additionally, governments are using means of population control that were initially developed to target minorities to control the entire population. We discuss both of these issues in detail.

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