A/75/329 minority languages, and a campaign to draw attention to human rights obligations during crises. The Government stated that its pandemic response measures did not permit distinguishing on the basis of race, sex, language, religion, nationality or social origin, and nor did they waive rights guaranteed by the country’s Constitution. Switzerland 47. The Government of Switzerland reported that it considered racial discrimination to be a serious violation of human rights, and respected all international commitments to fight racism through the justice system. In addition, the Government highlighted the importance of combating racism in the digital world, noting that the digital world and the real world were interdependent, and that racism must be fought in both dimensions. For that reason, the country’s Service for Combating Racism was making racism on the Internet its main focus. 48. The Government reported that as it rolled out its COVID-19 response, the Federal Council took great care to preserve and respect fundamental human rights. On 16 March 2020, the Federal Council had declared an “extraordinary situation” within the meaning of article 7 of the Epidemics Act. However, it had not been necessary to issue any declarations of derogation of human rights. 49. The Government continued to assess the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, and had reclassified it from an “extraordinary” situation under the Epidemics Act to a “special” situation. All COVID-19 response measures and ordinances were available to the public on the website of the Federal Office of Public Health. 50. Finally, the Government reported that conspiracy theories (particularly antisemitic) had circulated on the Internet, but on a lesser scale than in neighbouring countries. The Service for Combating Racism would continue to monitor the situation through its new strategy against racism on the Internet. III. Issue in focus: rise of antisemitism and other forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the times of COVID-19 A. Human rights crises engendered by the pandemic: ethnicization of the pandemic/racialization of disease 51. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed interlinking crises that have been hiding in plain sight: a public health disaster, and ethnonationalist rhetoric and politics – the latter driving impacts of and responses to the former. It is laying bare how dangerous climates of intolerance, racialized and religious suspicion and fear can be to the social fabric that sustains prosperous and safe communities. As populist regimes and extremists exploit and fuel anxieties about the pandemic, it has become increasingly clear how and why ethnonationalism is not just a fringe problem; it affects the very structures that are supposed to undergird liberal institutions. 3 52. The Equal Rights Trust stated in its submission that “discrimination, both direct and indirect, sits at the heart of the human rights crisis engendered by State responses to the pandemic”. 4 COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing racism, xenophobia, __________________ 3 4 10/23 A/73/305, para. 31. Equal Rights Trust, “Response to the joint questionnaire by the special procedure mandate holders on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the enjoyment of human rights”, June 2020, para. 12. 20-11206