In this particular time, everyone’s eyes are on the COVID-19 emergency – rightfully so. The emergency presents us with new challenges, which have a deep impact on global politics and society. While our daily lives may feel like they are somewhat “on hold”, human rights violations have not been suspended: on the contrary, they may even intensify due to the implications of this pandemic.
Therefore, we decided to organise a weekly panel discussion to not forget about important human rights issues, bringing them directly to peoples’ houses through easily accessible social media.
This week’s “Beyond COVID-19” broadcast is entitled “Justice Impact“. We have heard about the impact on Covid-19 of different aspects but we have heard quite little about its repercussions on justice. Access to justice, and the fight against impunity, have been affected during the lockdown in many countries, particularly for violations of human rights and mass atrocity crimes. This episode will address various issues related to the pandemic and the measures taken by governments, new challenges and current debates for the future, addressing the impact on judicial cases, access to social justice, documentation of violations, police brutality, and other issues.
Speakers of the panel discussion, to be moderated by Mariana Pena, Senior Legal Officer, Open Society Justice Initiative, includes: Michael Reed Hurtado, Director of Operations, Guernica Center, Professor, Georgetown University; Sharon Nakandha, Program Officer at the Open Society Foundation’s Africa Regional Office; George Kegoro, Excecutive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
The live stream is on Thursday 18 June 2020, at 18.00 GMT+1 (Brussels time).
Links to NPWJ’s social media pages, on which the episode will be broadcast:
- Facebook No Peace Without Justice (Eng)
- Facebook Non C’è Pace Senza Giustizia (Ita)
- Twitter @npwjpress
- Instagram npwj_
- Youtube No Peace Without Justice
