National Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice Arun Kumar Mishra on Tuesday said that the “right to life should prevail over the rights of patent-holders” so that life-saving medicines and vaccines for COVID-19 would be available to the poor.
Justice Mishra was addressing an online discussion on the topic of the “State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic” as a part of the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. He said the world was experiencing huge losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and new challenges had emerged.
Speaking about issues that were affecting human rights, he said online commerce had concentrated wealth in fewer hands. He added that education had suffered, healthcare infrastructure fell short and families were left destitute and children orphaned.
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“We cherish freedom of cyberspace, not to be misused to subvert the constitutional values,” he said.