About – UNC COVID-19 Health and Human Rights Monitor

About the Database

The UNC COVID-19 Health and Human Rights Monitor is a free online database that gathers and shares media reports discussing the human rights implications of domestic public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The database offers an interactive and searchable website of media reports from across the world categorized by geographic location, human rights, public health responses, and special populations.

Background and Rationale

Human rights are essential to effective public health responses, yet in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have neglected human rights. Existing efforts to monitor potential human rights violations in the pandemic have been neither comparative nor comprehensive, hindering the ability of researchers, policymakers, and advocates to recognize common violations and identify rights-promoting policies and practices. To fill this gap, we developed a novel, comparative database—the UNC COVID-19 Health and Human Rights Monitor—to systematically track media coverage of potential human rights violations resulting from domestic public health responses to the pandemic. In collecting and coding media reports, the database allows users to examine the human rights dimensions of both public health actions and inactions, the latter of which can be more difficult to systematically capture through other data sources, such as policy documents, but can nonetheless threaten rights realization. The goal of the database is to provide a foundation for future comparative research, the identification of best policy practices, and the development of successful advocacy strategies.

Acknowledgements

The UNC COVID-19 Health and Human Rights Monitor does not receive financial support from any outside entity; all of the data is collected and coded by students through the UNC Health and Human Rights Working Group. The database would not be possible without their hard work and ongoing dedication to health and human rights.

Project Leadership