MANILA, Philippines — United Nations human rights experts called on governments across the globe not to use state of emergency measures enforced to curb the rising number of coronavirus infections as an excuse to resort to excessive use of force.
The UN experts—which include special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Agnes Callamard—made the statements as governments around the world impose drastic measures such as lockdowns to arrest the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
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In the Philippines, its main island of Luzon—home to about half of the country’s population—is entering its fifth week of enhanced community quarantine that is expected to last at least until the end of April. Since the declaration, there has been a heightened presence of uniformed personnel to implement strict quarantine measures.
“Even during states of emergency, the use of force remains guided by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and precaution. They demand that the use of force and of firearms must be avoided and that all possible non-violent means must be exhausted before resorting to violent ones,” the UN experts said in a statement Friday.
Current measures include restriction on non-essential movements and a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Those found violating quarantine rules have been arrested, ordered to do physical exercises and in a case in Santa Cruz town in Laguna, placed inside a dog cage.
At least 108,000 violators of quarantine protocols in the Philippines were arrested as of April 13.
“Breaking a curfew or any restriction on freedom of movement cannot justify resorting to excessive use of force by the police; under no circumstances should it lead to the use of lethal force,” the UN experts said.
‘Other ways to police than force first’
The UN human rights experts stressed that people living in poverty, homeless persons, minorities, people deprived of liberty and victims of domestic abuse—all who are already affected disproportionately by the virus—should not be victimized further because of violent emergency measures.
They urged law enforcement agencies to take into account the needs and vulnerabilities of particular groups of people and exercise caution when resorting to use of force.
“You can’t stay home if you don’t have one. You can’t remain confined if you don’t have what you need to your family. How do you ‘physically distance’ in an urban slum? How do you eat or drink when you are a daily-wage laborer and need to go out every day to earn the money to do so,” the experts said.
“For millions of people, emergency measures can be a more direct threat to their life, livelihood and dignity that even the virus itself. There are other ways to police than force first,” they added.
The chief Philippine National Police on Monday said cops would directly apprehend quarantine violators should President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier pronouncement of a “martial law”-like community quarantine becomes a formal directive.
The novel coronavirus has so far infected 6,259 people in the Philippines, including 572 recoveries and 409 deaths.
The worldwide death toll from the pandemic reached 164,016 as of Monday, according to a tally from Agence France-Presse. More than 2 million cases have been recorded in 193 countries and territories since the new pathogen first emerged in China in December.
Of these cases, at least 525,200 are now considered recovered. — with AFP
If you believe you have come into possible contact with infected patients, you may be directed to the proper office of the Department of Health for advice through the following lines: (632) 8651-7800 local 1149/1150 or (632) 165-364. You may also opt to call the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine at (02) 8807-2631/ 8807-2632/ 8807-2637. The general public has also been encouraged to forward its concerns to the Health Department's dedicated 24/7 COVID-19 hotlines (02) 894-COVID and 1555 (free for all subscribers).