Plus: people with disabilities at risk in the United Kingdom; curfew violators in Philippines locked up in dog cages; China’s weak excuse to block investigations in Xinjiang; Moscow silently expands surveillance of citizens; access to internet is a fundamental right in times of pandemic; Thailand's clampdown on free speech; and human rights hero goes viral with lockdown workout video.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has used the COVID-19 pandemic to further undermine fundamental principles of democracy and rule of law. Once a proposed new emergency draft law is adopted, Orban and his government will have the means to exercise arbitrary and unlimited power.

Today the Coronavirus Act becomes law in the United Kingdom. It has serious implications for the rights of people with disabilities and older people, and its implementation needs to be carefully monitored.

In the Philippines, people who are violating the coronavirus curfew have been confined in dog cages, forced to sit in the midday sun as punishment. These abuses should immediately be investigated and those responsible should be appropriately disciplined or prosecuted.

Serious human rights abuses are being committed in Xinjiang but Chinese authorities continue to deny access to independent investigations, claiming these are “unreasonable” and “unnecessary" according to China’s ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai in a recent interview

Moscow, the capital of Russia, is quietly installing one of the world’s biggest surveillance camera systems equipped with facial recognition technology, a measure ostensibly to help fight the spread of COVID-19. 

At times like this, when the coronavirus pandemic has forced schools to close and people to practice “social distancing,” the internet is providing a lifeline for many.

The authorities in Thailand should immediately stop using “anti-fake news” laws to prosecute people critical of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And staying at home during the pandemic may not be easy, but check out Bob Fulton, a 96-year-old human rights hero who shows you can stay active while being isolated at home.