COVID-19: choking citizens voices, human rights and democracy

Oxfam International
5 min readFeb 17, 2021

By: Barbara Oosters; policy lead civic space at Oxfam Novib.

EndSARS protest in Nigeria. Image courtesy of Jide; CODE

Oxfam’s recently published report, ‘The Inequality Virus’ outlined that the pandemic has exposed, fed off and increased existing inequalities of wealth, gender and race. Over two million people have died, and hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty while many of the richest — individuals and corporations — are thriving.

Extreme inequality is not inevitable, but a policy choice. Exposure of gross corruption, failing health systems or a looming hunger crisis amidst the COVID-19 pandemic needs voices that challenge specific policy choices, speak truth to power and demand accountability. COVID-19 has become a pretext of many governments to choke these critical voices.

Governments across the world have introduced strict measures to contain the virus, which limit basic rights of citizens, such as freedom of movement, assembly and expression. In the face of the virus, restrictions can be legitimate, as long as they are proportionate, time-bound and non-discriminatory. However, the examples below show how restrictions have also been abused on a wide scale. Let these be a warning call. COVID-19 must not become an excuse to curtail fundamental freedoms and silence peoples voices worldwide.

Freedom of assembly

Niger was one of the first countries that used COVID-19 as a pretext for curbing freedom of assembly. In March 2020 over 100 people were arrested during peaceful demonstrations against corruption, including six civil society leaders. They were arrested for “participation in a prohibited demonstration and aiding in arson”. Three of them were only released after six months of detention. Several of these activists had already been arrested in 2018 in a protest against an unfair tax law. The pretext this time was COVID-19. In total more than 130 countries have now introduced legislation that curbs freedom of assembly.

Freedom of expression

Censorship and legislation aiming to curb fake news has been used to fine and target those speaking out against or questioning COVID-19 measures in more than 50 countries. An example is the arrest of journalist Hopewell Chin‘ono in Zimbabwe, for ‘’communicating falsehoods’’. He tweeted about police brutality in enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown in Zimbabwe. Prior to that, he had been arrested in 2020 for a tweet exposing corruption related to a $60millon purchase of protective equipment for health workers. Similarly healthcare workers who protested over low pay and poor working conditions have faced violence and arrests by law enforcement agencies. COVID19 has exposed inequality in access to health in Zimbabwe even more. Tweeting about that inequality is not tolerated, as the example of Hopewell Chin’ono shows.

Clamp down on marginalized communities

The pandemic lockdowns are being used by some governments to further clamp down on marginalized communities. For years Latin America has been the most lethal continent for land rights or indigenous rights defenders. Civil society and Indigenous people’s organisations have denounced how the abuses and criminal tactics by armed forces and police against indigenous leaders have intensified under COVID-19. Lockdown turns activists into an even easier target, given that they are obliged to stay home. Despite making up only 6% of the world’s population, Indigenous people comprised 26% of the human rights defenders killed last year.

Disproportionate and securitized response
There are multiple reports of disproportionate responses or excessive use of violence by police or other security forces often targeted at the poorest people in society who break lockdown rules out of economic necessity. In Tunis people faced up to 2 years imprisonment and in India people were beaten to death for allegedly keeping their shop open. In countries with a history of police brutality such as Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the enforcement of the COVID-19 legislations has heightened such brutalities. Anger over this police brutality and killings, fueled into the #endSARS movement in Nigeria in the last quarter of 2020.

Gendered Surveillance and violence
Tech companies and governments have started using apps or other surveillance mechanisms which have severe implications for individual freedoms and privacy if they are not managed correctly. Amnesty identified 3 COVID19 tracing apps from Norway, Kuweit and Bahrein as the most privacy-invasive, putting the privacy and security of hundreds of thousands of people at risk. In South Korea all information of people who tested positive, is publicly accessible, leading to stigmatization. Also, whereabouts of people and with whom they interacted is in the public domain.

Online surveillance has especially turned to women. As women activists increasingly work on digital platforms during COVID-19 lockdowns, and as more governments adopt broad digital surveillance and contact tracing in response to COVID-19, control over women’s lives and their activities have increased. Women activists who have criticized governments’ responses to COVID-19 have had their social media accounts suspended or their names scrubbed from digital platforms, removing any trace of their voice. Since April 2020, at least 10 women considered to be TikTok influencers have been arrested by Egyptian authorities on charges of debauchery and violating public morals. In July 2020, five of these women were sentenced to at least two years in prison and given exorbitant fines. Both offline and online gender-based violence, are on the rise since the start of the COVID19 crisis. Examples are calls on social media platforms to harass and rape women during curfews in Tunisia, as the streets are empty and the courts are closed.

COVID-19 measures threatening electoral processes

Last but not least we have seen restrictions such as state of emergency declarations, curfews and lockdowns posing a threat to citizens’ voice in electoral processes and democratic governance, often in favour of power-holders. In Liberia, Gambia and Nigeria, elections or pre-election activities such as campaigns and rallies were postponed and door-to-door canvassing restricted. Given the acute health risks, postponements are not unreasonable. Yet, recent analysis show that these have failed frequently to meet democratic standards. In other countries the COVID-19 pandemic gave opportunity to some governments to curtail opposition and dissenting voices. In Uganda emergency restrictions were used in limiting and repressing the rights of opposition party candidates, media and CSOs.

‘Now, more than ever, the voices of people need to be heard. Civil society is instrumental in building and maintaining trust in the health system. Civil society can help identify flexible and smart solutions that respond to the most urgent needs. Open and vibrant civic space helps ensure targeted and candid feedback on COVID-19 measures to improve responses.’ Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Oxfam has repeatedly pointed out that extreme inequality and the closing of civic space are linked. Faced with a choice between reducing inequality or reducing civic space for protest and accountability, governments seem to choose to silence voices rather than close the gap between rich and poor. This process has been accelerated by Covid-19.

We can see human rights and democratic processes being violated across the globe under the pretext of COVID-19. We must not allow the pandemic to become an excuse for choking people’s voices worldwide. Voices which are critical to defeat the inequality virus.

This blog is a contribution to debate around Davos, views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent Oxfam International’s position.

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Oxfam International

Oxfam is a world-wide development organization that mobilizes the power of people against poverty.