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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Coronavirus pandemic has shaken human rights, equalities

Belgrade, 10 December 2020

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stated today that the coronavirus pandemic has shaken to its core two basic principles of the modern world – the principle of human rights and their respect and the principle of equality between individuals and countries.

At the conference "Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic - COVID-19 on the Situation of Human Rights in Serbia", Brnabic emphasised that human rights and the pandemic are among the most important topics not only in our country, but globally, noting that the crisis is the most difficult for humanity over the last century, with the exception of the Second World War.

The world will be a more difficult place to live in and will be less just after the pandemic, she assessed, emphasising that the gap between rich and poor, individuals and countries, is turning into an insurmountable abyss.

According to her, the whole year behind us was marked by restrictions on rights and freedoms aimed at preserving the most important right – the right to life, but that countries were forced to impose restrictions.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the fight against the pandemic is very expensive, because the equipment, tests and vaccines, which everyone aspires to procure, cost a lot.

Nine out of 10 poor countries will probably not be able to receive the vaccine in 2021, because rich countries have already bought 53% of the vaccines planned for production next year. With those 53 percent of vaccines, only 14 percent of the total population will be vaccinated, Brnabic warned.

As she said, Serbia is fighting and trying to provide vaccines both bilaterally and through international mechanisms, such as COVAX.

Brnabic said that our country is doing its best to fight the pandemic in the best way, to protect the lives and health of citizens, but also their jobs and the economy, in order to continue to develop and make up for lost time this year, which will be difficult.

I guarantee that, when all this is behind us, we will continue to respect individual rights and freedoms as before the coronavirus pandemic, and with the help of the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, we want to protect them and further improve them, the Prime Minister concluded.