Five questions on the corona crisis in the South

1. How are you personally experiencing the corona crisis?
   The government is creating the general impression that Muslims are responsible for the pandemic. It is neglecting its duty to ensure that the basic needs of everyone can be met. I therefore have all the more respect for those who are fighting the spread of the virus even without adequate personal protective equipment.
2. Which of your freedoms have been curtailed?
   The government has drastically restricted freedom of movement. The instructions are being strictly enforced by the police and local authorities. Working the land and bringing the harvest to market are the only things still allowed. Anyone who doesn't observe social distancing risks penalties, and the same goes for expressing opinions about coronavirus on the Internet.
3. How is the crisis affecting the most vulnerable people in your country?
   Small businesses are losing the bases of their existence; people who live from hand to mouth are becoming jobless and ending up on the streets. Even educated people are losing their jobs, and the number of farmers taking their lives out of despair is likely to rise.
4. What will be the consequences of the corona crisis?
   A major outbreak of the pandemic would be disastrous, as we do not have adequate medical facilities. The lockdown is already impacting the economy negatively. It would be catastrophic if foreign enterprises were to withdraw their investments. Religious tensions could escalate, harassment and clashes are on the rise.
5. Is there also reason for hope?
   I pray that my country and the rest of the world will overcome this disease quickly and safely.

Angela Ospina Rincón, Director of the Centre for Psychosocial Care in Bogotá, Colombia

1. How are you personally experiencing the corona crisis?
   We in Colombia are concerned over the growing human rights violations. We have therefore refocused our work, giving a central place to topics like denunciation and the basic human rights implications of the stay-at-home order for people 70 years and older.
2. Which of your freedoms have been curtailed?
   Aside from the elderly, Colombia has embraced the herd immunity principle, which is further exacerbating the widespread feeling of insecurity already present in a highly polarised country. The freedoms of the opposition had already been restricted before the crisis. We know that the government is exploiting the pandemic to disseminate false information and to further its political agenda.
3. How is the crisis affecting the most vulnerable people in your country?
   The pandemic is highlighting the extreme inequalities in Colombia – the second worst in Latin America. The poorest are suffering hunger, and their protests are being suppressed with tear gas, beatings and arrests.
4. What will be the consequences of the corona crisis?
   Poverty, hunger and joblessness will grow worse. There will be social unrest. Protesters are already convinced that: "If the virus doesn't kill us, then hunger will." The saddest thing is that President Iván Duque has turned his back on the people, he is exploiting the pandemic for the benefit of his political cronies, and is misappropriating public funds.
5. Is there also reason for hope?
   Yes, in the midst of extreme repression, an enormous wave of solidarity is evident among the population. Social and human rights organisations have pressed on with their work under the most difficult circumstances.

Djalma Costa, Board Member of the Children's Rights Centre (CEDECA) in São Paulo, Brazil

1. How are you personally experiencing the corona crisis?
   I am most concerned over the proportions being assumed by the health crisis in Brazil. All the more so considering that we have no reliable political leadership that can offer greater security to Brazilians.
2. Which of your freedoms have been curtailed?
   The quarantine in place is directly impacting our freedom of movement. But I recognise that it is necessary. Even working from home is very difficult.
3. How is the crisis affecting the most vulnerable people in your country?
   The poor and marginalised population are the worst affected. There is a shortage of food, of drinking water in some places, and in the outlying areas of the country, of clinics. Brazil is in the throes not just of a health crisis but also of a major political crisis. President Bolsonaro is behaving like an enemy of the people and is working against the authorities and governors of the federal states.
4. What will be the consequences of the corona crisis?
   The impending economic crisis will be unprecedented. Potentially the most urgent issues will concern food security, but also the lack of jobs, which would enable people to organise themselves and resume a life of dignity. We must also expect a huge spike in mental illnesses.
5. Is there also reason for hope?
   People are capable of reinventing themselves, and that gives me courage. The mood in Brazil is one of the great demoralisation, but struggle is our daily companion.

Sambu Seck, General Secretary of the KAFO Farmers’ Organisation, Guinea-Bissau

1. How are you personally experiencing the corona crisis?
   In my case too, as a world citizen in a small West African country, the pandemic is shaping my daily life both privately and professionally. For the first time in my life I feel robbed of the traditional warmth of peasant communities and their spontaneous, loving way.
2. Which of your freedoms have been curtailed?
   The authorities have restricted the freedoms of movement and assembly in order to attenuate the risk of infection. As an active member of civil society I support this, and my contacts and exchanges now take place strictly through digital channels.
3. How is the crisis affecting the most vulnerable people in your country?
   Guinea-Bissau ranks 175th among 177 countries in the UN Human Development Index. Only 38 per cent of the population has access to health services, and the situation of the poorest is especially precarious. As a powerful and invisible enemy, coronavirus is spreading ever more terror among the most vulnerable every day. In rural parts of the country, ignorance of the origin of the threat and of how to deal with it does not augur well.
4. What will be the consequences of the corona crisis?
   The danger of an acute food crisis is looming larger, and there is now the further risk of a severe health crisis. Our economy depends almost exclusively on agriculture, especially on cashew nut production. Exports of these nuts have collapsed altogether. The government has provided roughly 25 million US dollars to fund the purchase of cashew nuts from producers and to ensure exports once international markets are reopened.
5. Is there also reason for hope?
   Guinea-Bissau reacted relatively rapidly to this global crisis with preventive health and economic measures. The social costs are enormous, but the better we implement the restrictions, the sooner it will be possible gradually to emerge from this situation. For this, the entire society needs to unite against coronavirus.

Risa Hontiveros, Senator in the Philippine Congress, Manila

1. How are you personally experiencing the corona crisis?
   The Philippines too are rigorously implementing social distancing and quarantine measures. Among other things, this means that I must care for my elderly mother from a distance. There are also other loved ones whom I have not seen for weeks now either.
2. Which of your freedoms have been curtailed?
   Clearly, the restriction of the freedom of movement is the first to be mentioned. As a government official I am somewhat less severely affected by this of course – like people working in healthcare or the retail sector.
3. How is the crisis affecting the most vulnerable people in your country?
   The corona crisis is hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. Many Filipinos work on a "no work, no pay” basis. Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, one million Filipinos descended into poverty every year, just because a family member fell ill. If a poor family is hit by covid-19, things will get very tough for them, unless the government does the utmost to protect the weakest.
4. What will be the consequences of the corona crisis?
   The pandemic is ending a 21-year growth phase in the Philippines, and a recession seems unavoidable. I am even more disquieted by the hollowing out of our democratic system by authoritarian politicians and the increasing suppression of civil liberties under the pretext of health protection. The surveillance State is gaining ground, and this is all the more alarming considering how very easy it is to abuse key human rights.
5. Is there also reason for hope?

   It has been and still is heart-warming to see how Filipinos are helping one another. I also draw hope from the way people across the country have been protesting the shutdown of a popular TV channel. Also continuing is the fight against the offshore gambling industry, which goes hand-in-hand with human trafficking, prostitution and tax evasion as well as money laundering. This shows me that Filipinos appreciate and will defend their fundamental civil liberties and by extension, democracy.