A/HRC/45/12 worldwide. They have publicly rejected recommendations by scientists and WHO, spread misinformation and downplayed the risk, contributing to the underestimation of the pandemic. Some have also called for environmental deregulation while the public is distracted by COVID-19. 39. States that had positive impacts in terms of limiting the spread of the pandemic also tended to better ensure representation of women in the decision-making process in the public sphere. Globally, women face discrimination and are underrepresented in decisionmaking processes, including those in response to COVID-19. Limited inclusion of women in the composition of COVID-19 crisis management bodies, such as dedicated governmental task forces and technical scientific committees, highlights systemic discrimination against women in the scientific and political/public spheres. 40. The Special Rapporteur wishes also to highlight that the duty to prevent should not translate into the adoption by States of measures that are inconsistent with human rights, nor instrumentalized in order to perpetrate human rights violations or abuses. While the measures imposed by States on individuals were onerous, the lockdowns and other extreme measures became necessary to limit contagion because of initial failures in the prevention of exposure. When they were imposed, lockdowns of course presented challenges for vulnerable communities, such as those living in extreme poverty. However, those challenges should never be an excuse for failing to prevent exposure to the maximum extent possible in such communities once the risk of contagion is apparent. Governments can and should take measures to prevent exposure, while at the same time guaranteeing adequate services, rather than using the additional collateral effects as an excuse for inaction, in violation of the rights of such vulnerable communities. 3. Rule of law and businesses 41. States may violate their obligations under international human rights law when they fail to take appropriate steps to prevent, investigate, punish, redress and remedy abuse by private actors. Independent of State efforts, and particularly where the State is unable or unwilling to exercise its duty, business enterprises have a responsibility to prevent exposure to hazardous substances resulting from their activities and/or business relationships. This responsibility is independent of whether or not adequate legislation is in place to protect human rights.31 42. Businesses, which through their activities can be implicated in causing or contributing to zoonotic pandemics, have a distinct role in both preventing and mitigating exposure to the COVID-19 virus. They have responsibilities to undertake human rights due diligence,32 and to assess the impacts of their operations and conduct in terms of respect for all human rights, including the rights to life and health, and to take steps to prevent, and when prevention is impossible, to mitigate, impacts, including by using the resources and leverage available to them. 43. With the COVID-19 crisis, some businesses demonstrated remarkable leadership, including by shutting down their facilities, voluntarily providing assistance or instructing workers to work remotely and facilitating remote work even before the State required them to do so. In order to overcome shortages of goods essential to prevent exposure, some converted their production facilities to make masks, sanitizing gel and ventilators. Others implemented free testing and created alliances for platforms to promote e-learning and home delivery, notably for vulnerable groups. 44. Other businesses did not uphold their responsibility to prevent exposure. This showed an inadequacy, or even absence of, governance, on the part of States with respect to the private sector. Many businesses stand accused of increasing risks to vulnerable workers in their supply chains, exacerbating immediate humanitarian suffering, and exacerbating further social inequalities and human rights abuses. Others have used obviously incorrect government statements as an excuse to fail to protect their workers and communities. 31 32 10 See A/74/480. See the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.