The Global Monitor of COVID-19´s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights -- A one-stop tool to hold governments to account

The pandemic threat to democracy

The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a global public health crisis. It has huge implications for democracies and fundamental rights around the world. Some governments are restricting civil liberties, discriminating in enforcement of pandemic-related measures, limiting parliamentary and civic oversight, and exploiting opportunities for executive aggrandizement in the name of fighting the pandemic.

Many governments are restricting human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as the freedoms of assembly and of movement. While certain restrictions can be justified under international law, notably if they are lawful, necessary, proportionate, subject to review and of limited duration, it is paramount that they are lifted once the COVID-19 outbreak is over. Worryingly, a wide-range of human rights abuses can be witnessed, including incidents where the COVID-19 outbreak appears to be the pretext for repressive measures against critical or opposition voices or religious, ethnic, or sexual minorities.

A tool to hold governments to account

 Policymakers, academics, civil society and journalists are searching for ways to both understand the crisis and its ramifications, as well as finding the right policy solutions in this unprecedented situation. But accurate, trustworthy and clear information can be hard to come by. The Global Monitor of COVID-19´s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights will be a one-stop platform that facilitates public access to knowledge, information, data, analysis and policy guidance that is produced by International IDEA and other trackers of democratic rights on the implications of measures adopted by governments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Global Monitor is produced by International IDEA with support from the European Union.

The launch

The Global Monitor of COVID-19´s Impact on Democracy and Human will include the following speakers. 

Kevin Casas-Zamora, International IDEA Secretary-General

Jutta Urpilainen, EU Commissoner for International Partnerships

Hannah Neumann, MEP - Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights at the European Parliament 

Yasmine Ouirhrane, Tech & Policy Expert, Founder of the podcast We Belong, EDD 2019 Young Leader

Jessica Musila, Civil society practitioner, Open Governance Fellow at the Kenyan think tank Local Development Research Institute (LDRI)

The launch event will be broadcast LIVE. 

International IDEA is one of the most trusted global sources of data on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and democracy. Our research on COVID-19 and Democracy has been quoted in international media from CNN to The New York Times, The Washington Post and Le Figaro. For more information, visit www.idea.int