Lockdowns should not become crackdowns; Lebanon's strained health care system comes under even more pressure; Kyrgyzstan should release unjustly detained activists; the early release program for prisoners in Turkey should cease discrimination; and quarantine measures in South Sudan threaten the most vulnerable.

Get the Daily Brief by email.

Many people are taking to the internet to voice and share their concerns over COVID-19's impact. However, if you're in Cambodia, this can lead to arrests and detention on claims of spreading so-called "fake news".

In Lebanon, the COVID-outbreak is worsening the scarcity of medical supplies, adding additional strain on health care sector already in crisis. 

Activists unjustly detained by their governments face heightened health risks in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Kyrgyzstan, this means that activists wrongfully detained should be released immediately.

In Turkey, where prison facilities are overcrowded and neglected, a nondiscriminatory early release program is necessary and could  lower the threat of the virus for all prisoners.

And finally, South Sudan's newly introduced quarantine measures, to prevent the spread on COVID-19, threaten the country's most at-risk populations.

Region / Country