Since March 26, South Africa has been under a strict lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government declared a “state of disaster” that has been enforced by both police and military forces, who have been accused of using excessive force against anyone they find violating quarantine measures, including the homeless. The South African […]
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kenyan government ordered a nation-wide curfew on March 27. Human rights groups have criticized the heavy-handed enforcement of the curfew by police using tear gas and batons, including on journalists. The day the curfew was announced, police caused panic as they tear-gassed ferry commuters who were trying to […]
On March 14, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced a partial economic shutdown of all non-essential businesses to fight the outbreak of COVID-19. Further measures placed wider restrictions, among them limits on the use of public transportation and a ban on gatherings of more than ten people. Israel’s state of emergency has been uninterrupted since […]
The United States federal government was slow to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, while state governments declared a mix of locklown measures and mandatory distancing orders in March. On April 21, anti-lockdown protests were organized in a dozen states questioning the existence of the virus and challenging lockdown restrictions. Rallies in Michigan and Washington state […]
On March 13, the Indonesian government issued a Presidential Decree regarding the Establishment of the Task Force for the Acceleration of COVID-19, but it was not until March 30 that the President Joko Widodo announced the Large-Scale Social Restriction (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar – PSBB), while refusing to impose a lockdown. Indonesian civil rights organizations […]
The response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada has mostly been led by provincial and territorial governments leading to differences in their impact on civil liberties. By early March, they had all announced states of emergencies and varying physical distancing restrictions. Data from the mapping project Policing the Pandemic identified Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia […]
On March 26, the Government passed the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020, without prior Parliamentary scrutiny, which instituted sweeping restrictions on human rights and civil liberties, affording the police additional expansive powers to enforce restrictions on people’s freedom of movement, close businesses, places of worship and community centres, and disperse gatherings. Research by […]
On March 31, the Parliament approved a law allowing the federal Cabinet and the regional governors to enact unchecked restrictions on human rights in the course of “high alert preceding a situation of emergency”. This vague regime of “high alert” was used instead of the pre-existing “quarantine”, “situation of emergency”, and “state of emergency,” all […]
Between March 15 and 18, states of emergency limiting movement and prohibiting gatherings were declared across Australia. Social distancing guidelines require Australians to stay 1.5 m away from each other, and gatherings were strictly limited to 20 or fewer people. On April 26, the first reported anti-lockdown protest was carried out in the West Gippsland […]
On March 11, the Hungarian government declared a national “state of danger” to counter the Covid-19 pandemic, and since March 16, it suspended the right to assembly. A subsequent law has extended the government’s emergency powers indefinitely, and deferred elections during that time. The government response to the health crisis has been heavily criticized after […]
