The coronavirus pandemic has shaken our world. We will recover. But to recover rapidly, and well, we need to learn the lessons of COVID-19.
The pandemic has acted like a heat-seeking device – zeroing in on gaps in human rights protection, and powering its very rapid spread by exploiting those gaps.
Lesson one: Inequalities, discrimination and other human rights violations make us all vulnerable. They harm us all.
Lesson two: universal social protection, universal health coverage, and other fundamental services for everyone are not luxuries. Countries with solid welfare systems have been able to better protect their people.
We need to build more equal, inclusive, sustainable, safer and greener societies that uphold human rights – and which are therefore more resilient.
We need to urgently put an end to all forms of discrimination, including against women, people of African descent, indigenous peoples and minorities.
We need to focus on fixing the root causes of inequalities within and between countries.
These are not just the right thing to do – they are the smart thing to do.
Welcome to the United Nations 
OHCHR 
