Background

Over the past decade, the world has experienced health emergencies that surface in the form of epidemics. In this regard, countries such as Zimbabwe and Haiti faced the epidemic of acute diarrhea syndrome and cholera. Several parts of the world were also impacted by the Avian influenza A(H7N9), a subtype of influenza viruses that have been detected in birds in the past. In the same vein, West Africa was devastated by the deadly Ebola virus in 2014 and beyond. Now the world is confronted with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. In all these epidemic situations the states are expected to provide appropriate responses. It is against this backdrop that the CCHRR issues a call for papers to examine the protection of human rights in epidemic and possibly pandemic situations.



Although epidemic situations, at first glance, seemingly refer to the right to health, the experiences of past health emergencies have shown that the interdependence and interconnectedness of human rights means that many human rights are at stake. The diversity of necessary measures taken by a state to prevent and control an epidemic situation, especially when a large-scale epidemic occurs, will impose certain restrictions on individual and community rights. Consequently, in the process of epidemic prevention and control, it is crucial to understand the various ways in which human rights protection is directly or indirectly restricted. Therefore, in this same process, how to prevent the violation of human rights and protect all human rights in a balanced and reasonable way is a particularly worthy academic issue.



Human rights protection in epidemic situations involves a series of rights, including but not limited to the right to know the epidemic situation, the right to transmit epidemic information, the right to obtain public health services for epidemic prevention, the right to medical treatment, the right to basic living standards during isolation, the right of residents in epidemic areas not to be discriminated against, the right to privacy of the infected, the personal freedom of the confirmed and suspected infected, and the property rights of the expropriated, citizens’ right to know, participate and supervise the epidemic prevention and control, etc. In the context of the COVID-19 virus, questions of ‘new’ rights may arise concerning misinformation or prevention of fear/scaremongering. A summary and reflection of the protection of human rights in the process of Anti-COVID-19 in 2019 to 2020 will help to improve the relevant legal system, emergency management and human rights protection in epidemic prevention and control.