A/HRC/46/34 reflection. 106 Chinese Taoist priest Liang Xingyang has been honouring the dead by collecting memorial tablets to place at a monastery in Shandong, China. He has said that “a person’s true death comes only when the world has forgotten them”. 107 There are also proposals for memorials, including in Italy and Mexico. Another positive example has been the initiative @FacesOfCovid, which shares photographs and stories of victims on social media. The El Español online newspaper provides a free in memoriam space to pay tribute to those who have died.108 Appropriate, rights-respecting memorialization109 is essential for honouring victims, supporting bereaved families and populations, and raising awareness about the need for effective public health measures. Such endeavours have been especially critical in the face of gross public health failures in certain countries, and insufficient attention being paid to those lost. 43. There have also been positive examples in which States have defended freedom of artistic expression during the pandemic, despite pressure. These include the defence by the Government of Denmark of a newspaper over the publication of a satirical cartoon related to COVID-19 depicting the flag of China, despite calls for an apology by the embassy of China. The Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, noted: “We have a very, very strong tradition in Denmark not only for freedom of expression, but also for satire drawings, and we will have that in the future as well.”110 IV. Right to science 44. The Special Rapporteur’s mandate also includes the rights to benefit from scientific progress and its applications,111 and to scientific freedom.112 The Special Rapporteur shares the perspective of her predecessor that these rights are closely interlinked with the right to take part in cultural life, since both relate to the pursuit of knowledge and understanding and to human creativity.113 Moreover, in the pandemic, the ability to renew cultural life and fully enjoy cultural rights will depend in large part on the successful application of science and public health expertise. Scientific and public-health messages will travel farther and protect more people if made accessible for everyone, including persons with disabilities and nonliterate persons, in diverse languages, including indigenous and minority languages, and shared in a culturally adequate manner, including for young people. 114 45. The Special Rapporteur also recognizes that the right to science is essential for the enjoyment of many other human rights, including the right to the highest attainable standard of health,115 and is especially critical during a pandemic. In such a context, science can save lives; the undermining of science kills. Moreover, the right to science is to be enjoyed by everyone, without discrimination. Actions such as the hoarding of vaccines by some wealthy nations are entirely unacceptable. Rich countries, comprising 14 per cent of the world’s population, have secured 53 per cent of the most promising vaccines. 116 Initiatives, such as the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) platform, that promote global, equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, are critical to guaranteeing the right to science for all and must be supported. 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 See www.archdaily.com/945873/worlds-first-large-scale-covid-memorial-designed-for-victims-ofthe-pandemic. See www.scmp.com/video/coronavirus/3101162/chinas-coronavirus-dead-honoured-taoist-priestceremonies-using-memorial. See www.elespanol.com/sociedad/memorial-coronavirus/. For a cultural rights approach to memorialization, see A/HRC/25/49. See www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-cartoon-triggers-china-denmark-diplomatic-spat/. The Special Rapporteur’s predecessor used “the right to science” to denote this right (A/HRC/20/26, para. 1). See A/HRC/20/26. Ibid., para. 3. See contributions from Mexico, Panama and Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador. A/HRC/20/26, para. 23. Sarah Boseley, “Nine out of 10 in poor nations to miss out on inoculation as west buys up Covid vaccines”, The Guardian, 9 December 2020. 13