The new COVID-19 Law Lab provides vital legal information and support for the global COVID-19 response

Launched today, the COVID-19 Law Lab initiative brings together and shares legal documents from over 190 countries around the world to help states establish and implement strong legal frameworks for pandemic management. The goal is to ensure that laws protect the health and well-being of individuals and communities and that they adhere to international human rights standards.

New laboratory (at www.COVIDLawLab.org) is a joint project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Joint Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS) and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.

Well-designed laws can help build strong health systems; evaluate and approve safe and effective drugs and vaccines; and implement actions to create healthier and safer public spaces and jobs. They are critical to the effective implementation of WHO international health regulations: supervision; infection prevention and control; travel and trade management; and implementation of measures to maintain basic health services.

“Laws and policies based on science, evidence and human rights can give people access to health services, protect themselves from COVID-19 and live free from stigma, discrimination and violence,” says Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “The COVID-19 Legislative Laboratory is an important tool for exchanging good law and policy practices.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a large increase in urgent legislative measures to control and reduce the pandemic.

“Strong legal frameworks are crucial for national responses to COVID-19,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Laws that affect health are often outside the health sector. As health is global, legal frameworks need to be aligned with international obligations to respond to current and emerging public health risks. A strong foundation of health laws is more important now than ever before. “

However, laws that are poorly designed, implemented, or enforced can harm marginalized populations, stiffen stigma and discrimination, and hamper efforts to stop a pandemic.

“Harmful laws can exacerbate stigma and discrimination, violate people’s rights and undermine public health responses,” said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS. “To ensure that pandemic responses are effective, humane and sustainable, governments must use the law as a tool to support the human rights and dignity of people affected by COVID-19.”

The COVID-19 Legislative Laboratory is a database of laws applied by countries in response to a pandemic. These include declarations of emergency, quarantine measures, disease surveillance, legal measures related to wearing masks, social distancing and access to medicines and vaccines. The database will continue to evolve as more countries and topics are added.

It will also include research into the different legal frameworks for COVID-19. These analyzes will focus on the effects of public health laws on human rights and help countries identify best practices to guide their immediate responses to COVID-19 and efforts in socioeconomic recovery once a pandemic is under control. This builds on the work of the UHC Legal Solutions Network, which was established to help countries achieve universal health coverage by applying rights-based legal frameworks.

“We need to monitor and evaluate how laws and policies are being used during the Pandemic to understand what works,” said Dr. Matthew M. Kavanagh, a professor in Georgetown University’s Department of International Health. Katie Gottschalk, executive director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University School of Law, added: “We need to learn lessons from the early stages of pandemic policies to implement the most effective laws going forward – the COVID-19 Lab allows us exactly. “

About UNDP

UNDP is a leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality and climate change. Working with our extensive network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations build integrated, durable solutions for people and the planet.

Find out more at undp.org or follow @UNDP.

ABOUT WHO

World Health Organization provides global leadership in public health within the United Nations system. Founded in 1948, the WHO works with 194 member states, in six regions and from more than 150 offices, to promote health, preserve the world and protect the vulnerable. Our goal for 2019-2323. Is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from emergencies and to provide a further billion people with better health and well-being. Visit COVID-19 updates and public health tips to protect yourself from coronavirus www.who.int and follow WHO at Twitter. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. TikTok. pinterest. Snapchat. YouTube

About UNAIDS

The United Nations Joint Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS) guides and inspires the world to pursue a shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS brings together the efforts of 11 UN organizations – UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank – and works closely with global and national partners to end the epidemic AIDS by 2030, part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Find out more at unaids.org and connect with us Facebook. Twitter. Instagram and YouTube.

O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and Georgetown University

The O’Neill Institute, located at Georgetown University, was established to create innovative solutions to the most attractive national and international health issues, with a basic vision of law being and remaining a basic tool for solving critical health problems. The Department of International Health at Georgetown University is home to scholarships for public health, economics, political science, and medicine. Georgetown’s Global Health Initiative serves as a university platform for developing concrete solutions to the health challenges facing families and communities around the world. Read more at oneillinstitute.org and connect with us Twitter and Facebook.

About the UHC network of legal solutions

The COVID-19 Legislative Laboratory is a product of the UHC Network of Legal Solutions in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Joint Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. The initiative aims to support states in achieving universal health coverage by working with policy makers, civil society groups and other lawmakers to ensure that all people and communities have the right to access the promotional, preventive, curative, rehabilitation and palliative health services they need. , of sufficient quality to be effective, while ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial difficulties.