"COVID-19 security measures no excuse for excessive use of force, say UN Special Rapporteurs", 17 April 2020

UN Human rights experts have expressed grave concern at the multiplication of accounts of police killings and other acts of violence within the context of COVID-19 emergency measures... Persons in vulnerable situations such as people living in poverty and those living in slums, homeless persons, minorities, individuals in detention, women and children victims of domestic violence, migrants and refugees, trans women and all those who defend their rights, are already affected disproportionately by the virus…The experts reminded governments and law enforcement agencies that the prohibition against arbitrary deprivation of life, torture and other ill-treatment, is absolute and non-derogable at all times... Law enforcement agencies, the experts recalled, should only use force when strictly necessary. Lethal force should only be used to protect against an imminent risk to life and even then, reasonable precautions must always be taken to prevent loss of life... The experts insist that further precautions to protect the right to life and dignity should be taken in view of the fact that so many people have no home in which to remain confined, or live in dense and promiscuous conditions, and do not have the means by which to sustain their families under isolation.