A/HRC/45/12 Contents Page I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3 II. Duty to prevent exposure to the COVID-19 virus......................................................................... 3 III. Key factors in the failure to prevent exposure to the COVID-19 virus ......................................... 5 A. Environmental degradation ................................................................................................... 5 B. Poor governance ................................................................................................................... 7 C. Inequality and discrimination ............................................................................................... 11 D. Lack of transparency and violations of the rights to information and freedom of expression ........................................................................................................... 15 E. Attacks on human rights defenders ....................................................................................... 18 F. Weak international cooperation ............................................................................................ 19 Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................................................... 20 IV. 2