Covid-19, international human rights law and the state-corporate complex

Jolyon Ford*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This article engages with some questions at the nexus of COVID-19 public health responses, civil-political rights under international human rights law, and the responsible governance of data-driven technologies. In July 2020, several United Nations Special Rapporteurs attending the online RightsCon conference on ‘Human Rights in the Digital Age’ observed that the COVID-19 pandemic was driving a growing reliance by states on technologies of all sorts (for example, mobile-enabled COVID contact-tracing app technologies).1 The rapporteurs variously noted how this was resulting in dramatically increased unlawful surveillance, quelling of dissent, and the closing of civic space and collective action online and offline. Their view was that these ‘patterns of abuse’ were being ‘accelerated under the exigencies of the global pandemic.’2

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)195-213
    Number of pages19
    JournalAustralian Year Book of International Law
    Volume39
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2021

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