Theme: COVID-19

Photo: UNICEF Ethiopia

Human rights and vulnerable youth in the time of COVID-19: challenges and lessons by the African Youth Front on Coronavirus

On 6 May 2020, the African Union (AU) Office of the Youth Envoy, with the support of the Commissioner of Social Affairs and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), established the African Youth Front on Coronavirus. This is an AU framework to engage youth in decision-making, to contribute youth-led solutions and co-lead Africa’s response to the pandemic, as well as to support the implementation of the African Continental Strategic Plan for COVID-19 pandemic.

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Photo: REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

The impact of COVID-19 on human and peoples’ rights in Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic, as a biomedical public health issue, poses a grave threat to health and life. It is most infectious. It causes serious illness. It is also deadly. With no vaccine yet to treat it, COVID-19 continues to pose a serious threat to the rights to health and life of people. Indeed, the governance and socio-economic fallout from COVID19 poses even more serious threat to large number of human and peoples’ rights. How we respond to COVID-19 and its impacts on the basis of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights could prove to be the litmus test for mitigating the grave consequences to the political freedoms and socio-economic rights of people on the continent.

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Photo: REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

Stigma and discrimination: consequences of the fear of COVID-19

COVID-19 has provoked a series of acts – such as stigma and discrimination against certain groups – across the continent that have exacerbated human rights concerns. According to data captured in the ACCORD COVID-19 Conflict and Resilience Monitor data set, to date 22 out of the 55 African Union Member States have reported incidents of stigmatisation and discrimination due to COVID-19. Such incidents call for the continuation of society-wide measures to raise awareness and disseminate information that this is a worldwide pandemic affecting anyone, regardless of race or culture.

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Photo: RFStudio

Youth as crucial assets for COVID-19 recovery

The success of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 will depend partly on forging and strengthening partnerships with young people in Africa. Across the continent, youth-led and youth-focused organisations have continued to show resilience and innovation in contributing to solutions to respond to the challenges that have emerged due to COVID-19.

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