Coronavirus and human rights

'Before Our Eyes' is a short film by Amnesty International UK with Olivia Colman and Adrian Lester to engage and educate the public on the very real threat to human rights in the UK.

The deepening conditions of poverty in the UK are a human rights violation. Now, people living through it have presented a powerful reality check directly to the United Nations.

Economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR) are for individuals' well-being and dignity; and they are about the rights we need to live our lives on a daily basis, the food we eat, the homes we live in, the education we can offer to our kids.

This course covers the global scope of specific ESCR, including social security, housing, work, water, food, education and health. Take our course on how ESCR generally provide a basis to fight poverty and inequality, and receive an Amnesty International certificate.

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) affect all of us in our everyday lives. They influence our quality of life including our education, our work, our health, our homes, the food on our tables and how the state will step in if things go wrong, and we need financial or other help.

5 human rights organisations, Just Fair, Amnesty International UK, Human Rights Watch, René Cassin & Liberty join the Guarantee our Essentials campaign, calling for Universal Credit to be legally required to cover a minimum that allows people to realise their rights.

11,000 joined Amnesty International UK to call on the UK Government to make access to safe and affordable housing a human right for all in England - with this right enshrined in law - in a petition that Amnesty has handed to Michael Gove at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

In the height of Covid-19, 375 trans and gender diverse people reported to have been killed globally in one year

For too long, homelessness in England has been explained as the failure of the individual to cope with the stresses and strains of life. Explore our 2022 Report on homelessness assistance and the right to housing in England, and read our recommendations.

Report reveals ‘a grossly disproportionate effect on those who already faced systematic discrimination’

Responding to North Korean state media declaring a “maximum national emergency” after the country’s first officially reported Covid-19 outbreak, Amnesty International’s East Asia Researcher Boram Jang said:

“There is no evidence to show that North Korea has access to enough vaccines to protect its population from Covid-19. Yet, it has rejected millions of doses of AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines offered by the WHO-led COVAX programme, a global Covid-19 vaccine distribution mechanism which requires transparent distribution and monitoring."

In 2021, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna projected revenues of up to £40 billion, yet supplied less than 2% of their vaccines to low-income countries

Pledging to provide one billion doses is a drop in the ocean and wouldn’t come close to covering the population of India, let alone vaccinating the world’s population.

The majority of people in G7 countries believe their governments should ensure pharmaceutical companies share vaccine research and technology, according to a major new poll.

Amnesty International is increasingly concerned at reports of a major COVID-19 outbreak at Jaw prison in Bahrain, a jail already notorious for its overcrowded conditions.

As lockdown began, thousands of patients were sent from hospitals into care homes. In three months 18,562 people living in Care Homes died with COVID-19. Our report As if Expendable highlights the UK Government's failure to protect older people in care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Europe will not be the same after COVID-19. The pandemic is an unprecedented crisis with grave consequences for women and girls.

Venezuelan journalist, arrested in an attempt to silence his reporting on the coronavirus, released on bail.