Nigeria, among other African countries, is being tasked to provide members of the public with factual, regular and science-based information on the threat that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) poses to their health as well as the precautionary measures needed to curb its spread.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) which made the call recently in a statement signed by its Chairperson, Dr. Solomon Ayele Dersso, stressed the need for public officials to communicate such vital information, in words and action.
“Information should be made available in all major languages and with particular attention to ensuring access to such information by vulnerable groups, including the poor with limited access to mainstream media and sources of information, and persons with disabilities,” ACHPR noted.
“In times of public health emergencies, members of the public have the right to receive factual, regular, intelligible and science-based information on the threat COVID19 poses to their health, the role and impact of the measures adopted for preventing and containing the virus, the precautionary measures that members of the public should take, and on the scale of the spread, ”it added.
The Commission cited Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the right to life; Article 9 on the right to access to information, and Article 16 on the right to health as the basis of its intervention, saying that governments who are parties to the Charter have an obligation under its Article 1 to take appropriate measures to give effect to the rights, duties and freedoms enshrined in the Charter, including through taking measures necessary for preventing threats to the life, safety and health of people.
It advised that Federal and state governments as well as relevant government officials, particularly those in the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and National Orientation Agency (NOA) should fulfil their obligations to provide timely access to relevant and factual information when they adopt a communication strategy tailored to their particular realities.
ACHPR also called on governments to put in place measures to dispel misinformation and myths about COVID19 and to penalize the dissemination of false information on risks of COVID19 and preventive measures.
The Commission reiterated the obligation of governments to ensure that their measures are consistent with the principle of legality, are necessary and proportional to the objective of safeguarding public health and accompanied by contextually tailored policy measures for mitigating adverse impacts, particularly on the most vulnerable sections of society.
It also stressed the need for governments at all levels to ensure that the measures adopted to fight COVID19 do not lead to discrimination and stigmatization of anyone on the basis of any of the grounds of discrimination listed under Article 2 of the African Charter or similar grounds.
In addition, the Commission urged governments at all levels to ensure that people affected by the virus and people coming from countries with major spread of the virus are treated with dignity and humanely and that they are not subject to attacks and discriminatory treatment.
The Commission observed that various sectors of society, including individuals, political leaders, private sector and other social actors, community leaders, the media, public opinion leaders and religious institutions bear special responsibilities in varying degrees for the implementation of the prevention and containment measures.
ACHPR concluded that the media, along with Community leaders and opinion leaders, “also have special responsibility for shaping government action, promoting the prevention and containment measures, providing relevant information and analysis to the public and mobilizing the public to heed the scientific advice and requirements of the prevention and containment measures.”
Segun Fatuase
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(Courtesy of MRA and agency reports)