On 23 April 2020, Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres proclaimed that the COVID-19 pandemic is fast becoming a human rights crisis. The message is clear that people — and their rights — must be front and centre of the COVID-19 response and recovery.
The same day students of the International Law Department participated in the webinar “COVID-19 and its Human Rights Dimensions” organized in the framework of the Student’s Science Week. Mr. Omer Fisher, Senior Human Rights Advisor of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Belarus, and Ms. Olga Afereva, Human Rights Assistant of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Belarus, presented the United Nations Guidance Note for Belarus on Human rights at the time of COVID-19 Pandemic. Students of the International Law Department engaged in the discussion and presented their research on how the pandemic impacts domestic violence and whether pandemic can constitute a circumstance precluding wrongfulness under International Law.
On 23 April 2020, Head of the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr. Djordje Drndarski, and his Assistant, Mr. Sergey Navitsky, participated in the webinar on International Humanitarian Law for the 3rd year students of the International Law Department organized in the framework of the Student’s Science Week. Representatives of ICRC and International law Students discussed ICRC activities in Belarus and abroad, dissemination of knowledge on the rules and principles of International Humanitarian Law in peacetime and in wartime, peculiarities of ICRC activities in times of the pandemics and other issues.
The International Law Department expresses gratitude to representatives of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Belarus and the International Committee of the Red Cross for supporting the Student’s Science Week.
