Human Rights Watch (HRW) is committed to reporting on the human rights dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their research has identified 40 questions to guide a rights-respecting response to this crisis that addresses the needs of groups most at risk, including people living in poverty, ethnic and religious minorities, women, people with disabilities, older people, LGBT people, migrants, refugees, and children. HRW has also identified a large variety of responses to the crisis, some of which are positive and others problematic. Positive examples are not intended as prescriptive measures for governments to adopt, but rather as evidence of policy choices open to governments that seek to take their human rights obligations into account. The inclusion of an example should not be taken as an endorsement or critique of that government’s entire approach to addressing the crisis, or its human rights record in general.
