With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing and Victoria’s current state of emergency set to expire, Victoria is developing a new pandemic law to support the ongoing management of COVID-19 and any future pandemics.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is a global human rights crisis which has caused widespread illness and millions of deaths and prompted often severe restrictions from governments to protect public health.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has required governments around the world to make difficult and high-stakes decisions. Most states across Australia have declared a state of emergency, giving governments and health officials broad powers to limit individual rights and freedoms in order to protect public health.
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Our ability to come together and speak out on the issues we care about is fundamental to our democracy.
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Everyone deserves to be safe in the face of COVID-19, but immigration detention facilities in Australia are creating unacceptable health risks.
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Australia and the world face a public health emergency in coronavirus (COVID-19), but little has been said about the people in our prisons and youth detention centres.
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In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, most states across Australia declared a state of emergency and brought in new laws imposing severe restrictions on civil liberties and an increase in policing powers.
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The Victorian Government is requiring people in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire to wear a face covering or mask when leaving their home to help stop the spread of COVID-19. This explainer seeks to debunk claims that the requirement breaches people’s human rights.
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While politicians say that police are committed to taking a "sensible approach", history has shown that too often marginalised groups are disproportionately punished through an expansion of policing powers. In particular, people living with a disability, women escaping family violence and those experiencing homelessness may be hardest hit. In addition, increased powers - and police discretion - open the way for racialised and discriminatory policing, too often experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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The Human Rights Law Centre works with international NGOs to highlight the human rights challenges presented by COVID-19 globally and to ensure that UN human rights mechanisms, such as Human Rights Council and Special Procedures, can support countries like Australia in implementing human rights based responses to COVID-19, and hold them to account when they fail to do so.
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