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Pandemics as Rights-Generators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2020

Neha Jain
Neha Jain*
Affiliation:
Professor of Public International Law, European University Institute; Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Law School. Thanks to Jessica Clarke for helpful conversations on this project.
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Abstract

While the global pandemic has exposed the fragility of human rights protections, it has also resulted in rights victories for some of the most vulnerable members of society. This Essay examines epistemic, consequentialist, and normative rights reframing efforts that have been mobilized to advocate for and secure human rights during the pandemic through the lens of prisoners’ rights. It argues that these rights seeking strategies hold promise for advancing rights claims of prisoners and other marginalized groups beyond the pandemic.

Type
The International Legal Order and the Global Pandemic
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 114 , Issue 4 , October 2020 , pp. 677 - 686
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by The American Society of International Law

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References

1 See, e.g., Sarah Stillman, Will the Coronavirus Make Us Rethink Mass Incarceration?, New Yorker (May 18, 2020) (“Some efforts accomplished in weeks or months what activists had been working toward for decades, leading to large experiments in decarceration.”).

2 Francisco Garcia, Coronavirus Nearly Ended Homelessness in the UK. Why Can't We End it for Good?, Guardian (June 11, 2020).

3 Catarina Demony, Portugal to Take Up to 60 Unaccompanied Migrant Children from Greek Camps, Reuters (May 9, 2020).

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6 GA Res. 40/33, UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (Nov. 29, 1985); GA Res. 43/173, UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (Dec. 9, 1988); GA Res. 45/113, UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Their Liberty (Dec. 14, 1990); GA Res. 65/229, UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Sanctions for Women Offenders (Dec. 21, 2010).

7 GA Res. 70/175, Annex, United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Dec. 17, 2015).

8 See, e.g., Penal Reform International & OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Guidance Document on the Nelson Mandela Rules (2018); Amnesty International, Oral Statement, Human Rights Council, High-Level Intersessional Discussion Celebrating the Centenary of Nelson Mandela, IOR 40/8296/2018 (Apr. 27, 2018), available at https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/IOR4082962018ENGLISH.pdf.

9 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Arts. 7, 9–10, Dec. 16, 1966, 999 UNTS 171; Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, Art. 2, Dec. 10, 1984, 1465 UNTS 85.

10 Van Zyl Smit, supra note 4, at 111–12.

11 Id. at 108–09, citing Response of Australia to the Views of the Human Rights Committee in Communication No. 1968/2010 (Blessington and Elliot v. Australia), available at https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/BlessingtonAndElliotVAustralia-AustralianGovernmentResponse.pdf.

12 213 UNTS 221.

13 1144 UNTS 123.

14 1520 UNTS 217.

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29 Editorial, Tackle Coronavirus in Vulnerable Communities, 581 Nature 239 (2020).

30 See, e.g., World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe Press Release, Experience of Health Professionals, Police Staff and Prisoners in Italy Informs WHO COVID-19 Guidelines for Prisons (May 28, 2020), at http://www.euro.who.int/en/countries/italy/news/news/2020/5/experience-of-health-professionals,-police-staff-and-prisoners-in-italy-informs-who-covid-19-guidelines-for-prisons (noting that the shift in the attitude of Italian prison staff toward prisoners on account of working alongside health care professionals).

31 See, e.g., Josiah Rich, Scott Allen & Mavis Nimon, We Must Release Prisoners to Lessen the Spread of Coronavirus, Wash. Post (Mar. 17, 2020), at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/17/we-must-release-prisoners-lessen-spread-coronavirus.

32 See, e.g., Carey Funk & Brian Kennedy, Public Confidence in Scientists Has Remained Stable, Pew Res. Ctr. (March 22, 2019), at https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/03/22/public-confidence-in-scientists-has-remained-stable-for-decades.

33 See, e.g., New York City Bar Association Written Testimony, Oversight Hearing T2020-6171: COVID-19 in City Jails and Juvenile Detention Centers (May 19, 2020), available at https://www.asf.be/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/EN-Déclaration-conjointe-Covid-19-prisons-Afrique.VU_.BL-updated.pdf; Avocats Sans Frontières, Joint Statement, Faced with the Spreading of COVID-19, Take Urgent and Immediate Measures to Protect the Rights of Detainees in Africa (Mar. 24, 2020), available at https://www.asf.be/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/EN-Déclaration-conjointe-Covid-19-prisons-Afrique.VU_.BL-updated.pdf.

34 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Statement, supra note 28; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Statement, supra note 28.

35 Evaluating “risk” remains controversial even in criminal justice systems that have begun to favor algorithmic risk assessments. See Stevenson, Megan T. & Slobogin, Christopher, Algorithmic Risk Assessments and the Double-Edged Sword of Youth, 96 Wash. U. L. rev. 681 (2018)Google Scholar.

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37 Id.

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39 Clavel Rangel, Joe Parkin Daniels & Tom Phillips, “We're All on Death Row Now”: Latin America's Prisons Reel from COVID-19, Guardian (May 16, 2020).

40 See, e.g., Richard Coker, Expert Report: COVID-19 and Prisons in England and Wales 19 (Mar. 31, 2020), available at https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2020_04_01_COKER_Report_HL_PRT.pdf; Jake Harper, Crowded Prisons Are Festering “Petri Dishes” for Coronavirus, Observers Warn, NPR (May 1, 2020), at https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/01/848702784/crowded-prisons-are-festering-petri-dishes-for-coronavirus-observers-warn.

41 Human Rights Watch, COVID-19 Prisoner Releases Too Few, Too Slow (May 27, 2020), at https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/27/covid-19-prisoner-releases-too-few-too-slow.

42 Editorial, Rethinking America's “War on Drugs” as a Public-Health Issue, 357 Lancet 971 (2001).

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45 Scott A. Allen, MD, FACP and Josiah Rich, MD, MPH, Letter to Congress (Mar. 19, 2020), available at https://whistleblower.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Drs.-Allen-and-Rich-3.20.2020-Letter-to-Congress.pdf.

46 The latest public statement by the South African government on prison release repeatedly invokes the imagery of a collective community and national effort. See South African Department of Correctional Services Press Release, Minister Ronald Lamola: Special Coronavirus COVID-19 Parole Dispensation Statement (May 8, 2020), at https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-ronald-lamola-special-covid19-parole-dispensation-statement-8-may-2020-0000.

47 Kinner, et al., supra note 27; Written Statement of Dr. Scott Allen, Examining Best Practices for Incarceration and Detention During COVID-19, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary 2 (June 2, 2020), available at https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Scott%20Allen%20Testimony.pdf

48 See Daniel A. Gross, “It Spreads Like Wildfire”: The Coronavirus Comes to New York's Prisons, New Yorker (Mar. 24, 2020) (quoting epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves that “‘It's nearly impossible to provide infection control in these settings.’”).

49 See, e.g., Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Advice of the Subcommittee to States Parties and National Preventive Mechanisms Relating to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic, Adopted Mar. 25, 2020, CAT/OP/10 (Apr. 7, 2020), at https://undocs.org/CAT/OP/10; Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria and Centre for Applied Legal Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Prevent South African Correctional Centres from Becoming Killing Fields of COVID-19: University Human Rights Centres Call for Government Intervention (Apr. 21, 2020), available at https://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/centrenews/2020/Prevent_South_African_correctional_centres_from_becoming_killing_fields_of_COVID-19_-_University_human_rights_centres_call_for_government_intervention.pdf.

50 See Flinterman, Cees, Three Generations of Human Rights, in Human Rights in a Pluralist World: Individuals and Collectivities 75 (Berting, Jan, Baeher, Peter R. & Burgers, J. Herman eds., 1990)Google Scholar.

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52 See UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 3: The Nature of States Parties’ Obligations, Art. 2(1), para. 9, Dec. 14, 1990, E/1991/23.

53 See Brownlee, Kimberley, A Human Right Against Social Deprivation, 63 Phil. Q., 202 (2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar (highlighting the paucity of noneconomic rights in human rights discourse).

54 Office of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz Press Release, As Coronavirus Strikes Prisons, Schatz and Durbin Introduce New Bill to Improve Compassionate Release Process and Protect Public Health (May 12, 2020), at https://www.schatz.senate.gov/press-releases/as-coronavirus-strikes-prisons-schatz-and-durbin-introduce-new-bill-to-improve-compassionate-release-process-and-protect-public-health.

55 See, e.g., Amanda Jerome, Legal Groups File Charter Challenge Against Government to Protect Federal Inmates (May 20, 2020), at https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/articles/19081/legal-groups-file-charter-challenge-against-government-to-protect-federal-inmates?article_related_content=1; International Development Law Organization, Honduras Court Admits Petition to Protect Prisoners from COVID-19 (May 11, 2020), at https://www.idlo.int/news/honduras-court-admits-petition-protect-prisoners-covid-19.

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57 Id. at 270–71, 274 (outlining different types of private outsourcing arrangements).

58 American Civil Liberties Union, Lawsuit Seeks Class-Action Relief for People Detained in Federal Custody in Arizona (May 8, 2020), at https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-sues-protect-people-incarcerated-private-prison-covid-19; Jef Feeley & Michael Leonard, Jay-Z-Backed Suit Says Company Downplayed Prison Virus Risks, Bloomberg (May 27, 2020), at https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-05-27/jay-z-backed-lawsuit-says-company-downplayed-prison-virus-risks.

59 Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, Briefing Note: Private Prisons, Immigration Detention and COVID-19 (May 13, 2020), at https://www.accr.org.au/news/private-prisons-immigration-detention-and-covid-19.

60 See, e.g., Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria and Centre for Applied Legal Studies, University of Witwatersrand, supra note 49; Commission on Human Rights, Republic of the Philippines, Statement of CHR Spokesperson, Atty Jacqueline Ann de Guia, on Improving the Plight of Persons Deprived of Liberty Through the Interim National Preventive Mechanism (May 14, 2020), at https://chr.gov.ph/statement-of-chr-spokesperson-atty-jacqueline-ann-de-guia-on-improving-the-plight-of-persons-deprived-of-liberty-through-the-interim-national-preventive-mechanism.