Ensuring Human Rights during Covid-19 Pandemic: International Law and the Obligations of States – The Problems of Southeast Asian Countries

The Covid-19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) has become complicated in most countries around the world. The pandemic not only claims the lives and affected the health of tens of millions of people, but also has many negative impacts on life and human rights. To limit the spread of the disease, states have adopted many measures, such as warnings, travel restrictions, medical isolation, and border closures, etc. Despite limiting the spread of the Covid-19, these measures negatively affect human freedoms, such as freedom of movement, freedom to choose health care providers, etc. This paper uses the methods of statistics and describing reality to show the obligations of states to ensure human rights under the impact of the pandemic according to the provisions of international law, and the fulfillment of these obligations in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the challenges faced by ASEAN countries to fulfill their national obligations in ensuring human rights under the impact of the epidemic and in post-pandemic: the shortage of vaccine supply; mass vaccination is unlikely to be achieved in the short term. The comparative method is used in some parts of the article to compare Fulfillment of states’ obligations in ensuring human rights under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in ASEAN countries.