Credit: UN Special Procedures /  UN experts make  urgent appeal for governments to provide equal health services for all during COVID-19 crisis or risk a higher death rate because of discrimination.

By Gary Raynaldo       DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –  NEW  YORK –  UN independent human rights experts  Monday urged Governments to commit to racial equity and equality in their response to the pandemic or risk a higher death rate because of discrimination. The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said that structural discrimination could worsen inequalities surrounding access to healthcare and treatment, which could lead to a rise in disease and death rates among people of African descent.

“Despite robust responses, States have not recognised the specific health risks faced by people of African descent or how racial discrimination and implicit bias and racial stereotypes may pervade policy”.

-chair Ahmed Reid said in a statement.

Members highlighted two other areas of concern in the current crisis: lack of representation of people of African descent at high levels, and the link between discretion in data collection and risk.  “Interventions that appear neutral on their face may license or facilitate racial bias, without care and attention. Thus far, no protection efforts have focused the public health response on the specific vulnerabilities of people of African descent”, said Reid.

Coronavirus Doesn’t Discriminate, But U.S. Health Care Showing Familiar Biases: NPR

The new coronavirus doesn’t discriminate.  But physicians in public health and on the front lines say that in the response to the pandemic, they can already see the emergence of familiar patterns of racial and economic bias. In one analysis, it appears doctors may be less likely to refer African Americans for testing when they show up for care with signs of infection, according to an  NPR  report on racial bias amid COVID-19.

Also, individuals around the world are being shunned, shamed, and verbally or physically assaulted as fear over the coronavirus spreads. 

The expert group also is concerned about the “disproportionate presence” of people of African descent in locations such as jails and refugee camps across the world, where contagion risk is higher.

“The ongoing availability of people of African descent to serve in this crisis should not be construed as disposability”,  Reid said. “States using this pandemic to suspend or roll back human rights relating to affirmative action, the environment, public health, criminal justice, and governance, generally disproportionately impair people of African descent in ways that will persist, long after the crisis is resolved.