A/HRC/46/44 personal protective equipment, and also provided expert support to members of the United Nations country team and State partners on human rights and the COVID-19 response. E. Emergency declarations and minorities OHCHR has published detailed guidance on COVID-19 and minorities and on emergency measures and COVID-19, recalling that restrictions must not be discriminatory.17 Emergency declarations and other measures adopted by States in the context of the pandemic have been used in some locations to further exclude minorities, to silence the work of minority rights defenders and to squash dissenting voices. Concerns have also been raised that tracking tools deployed on public health grounds could result in ongoing surveillance of minorities in some places.18 In April, the Human Rights Committee issued a statement on derogations from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. It stressed that States could not tolerate, even in situations of emergency, the advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that would constitute incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. States must take steps to ensure that public discourse in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic did not constitute advocacy and incitement against specific marginalized or vulnerable groups, including minorities and foreign nationals.19 The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recalled that measures including the closing of borders, lockdowns, quarantines and enforcement addressing the COVID-19 pandemic must not be enacted or enforced in a manner that violated the prohibition of racial discrimination. It further stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had made members of groups and minorities protected under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination particularly vulnerable to discrimination.20 In addition, United Nations human rights experts expressed grave concern at the rising number of accounts of police killings and other acts of violence within the context of COVID19 emergency measures, particularly against people living in vulnerable situations, such as minorities. All people who are often disproportionately affected by the virus because of their precarious conditions of existence should not be victimized further because of state-ofemergency measures.21 F. Hate speech against minorities Stigmatization and an increase in acts of incitement to hatred of minority communities have been reported in many locations, with minorities sometimes being cast as scapegoats for the virus. In various locations, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, Roma or people of African or Asian origin have all borne the brunt of such abuse.22 These claims, and endemic prejudice, have exposed members of minority communities to hate speech and violence. Reports of related violence, discrimination, arbitrary denial of services, and heightened exclusion in the COVID-19 crisis against minorities are widespread, and have affected Roma, people of African descent, people of Asian descent and religious minorities.23 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Events/EmergencyMeasures_COVID19.pdf. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Minorities/OHCHRGuidance_COVID19_ MinoritiesRights.pdf. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CCPR/COVIDstatement.docx. Statement on the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 7 August 2020. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25802&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Minorities/OHCHRGuidance_COVID19_Minorities Rights.pdf. Ibid.; and see https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoad PublicCommunicationFile?gId=25308. 7