A/HRC/44/49 evolving, and clear and honest guidance. As WHO has noted, risk communication is a twoway street. 25 The media provide an essential tool for governments to understand the concerns of the public, and for the public to understand how to manage their concerns and fears; limiting access limits this crucial element of information-sharing. B. Access to the Internet 24. In a moment of global pandemic, the right of access to the Internet should be restated and seen for what it is: a critical element of health-care policy and practice, public information and even the right to life. Indeed, an open and secure Internet should be counted among the leading prerequisites for the enjoyment of the freedom of expression today (A/HRC/29/32, para. 11; see also A/HRC/17/27). Yet Governments have resorted increasingly to the bluntest forms of denial of access to information via the Internet, knowing that digital tools have become an essential – if not, for many, the essential – tool for the enjoyment of the right to seek, receive and impart information. The Human Rights Council has itself reiterated the importance of Internet access. In its resolution 39/6, the Council condemned unequivocally measures in violation of international human rights law aiming to or that intentionally prevented or disrupted access to or dissemination of information online and offline, which undermined the work of journalists in informing the public, including measures to unlawfully or arbitrarily block or take down media websites, such as denial of service attacks, and called upon all States to cease and refrain from those measures, which caused irreparable harm to efforts at building inclusive and peaceful knowledge societies and democracies. 25. Similarly, in a joint declaration on freedom of expression and conflict situations, United Nations and regional monitors of freedom of expression and the media declared in 2015 that the “filtering of content on the Internet, using communications ‘kill switches’ (i.e. shutting down entire parts of communications systems) and the physical takeover of broadcasting stations are measures which can never be justified under human rights law”.26 Governments increasingly resort to shutting down the Internet, often for illegitimate purposes but in all cases having a disproportionate impact on the population. Network shutdowns invariably fail to meet the standard of necessity (A/HRC/35/22, para. 14). 26. Given the migration of all manner of essential services to online platforms, shutdowns not only restrict expression but also interfere with other fundamental rights (A/HRC/35/22, para. 15). In the context of the pandemic, it has been especially troubling to observe the continuation of several instances of Internet shutdowns. The most prominent has been the long-term disruption that the Government of India has imposed on Kashmir. In 2019 the Government imposed what several mandate holders found to be “a form of collective punishment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, without even a pretext of a precipitating offence”. 27 Early in 2020 the Supreme Court of India found that the Government must periodically justify its continuing actions in Kashmir, but even as of this writing, reporting suggests that people in Kashmir are only able to access limited Internet sites and with extremely limited speeds. It has been reported by health-care professionals in Kashmir that the limitations imposed by the Government have made access to basic information difficult to obtain.28 27. India has not been alone. The Government of Ethiopia imposed a shutdown of Internet services in the Oromia region in the beginning of 2020, reportedly promising only at the end of March to end the shutdown. 29 Bangladesh imposed an Internet blackout affecting Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, prompting 50 organizations to call for a lifting 25 26 27 28 29 Managing Epidemics, p. 34. Para. 4 (c) of the declaration. Available at www.osce.org/fom/66176. “UN rights experts urge India to end communications shutdown in Kashmir“, 22 August 2019. Umar Lateef Misgar, “In Kashmir, slow internet throttles doctors’ coronavirus response“, New Humanitarian, 1 April 2020. Laetitia Bader, “Millions of Ethiopians can’t get COVID-19 news“, Human Rights Watch dispatch, 20 March 2020; Agence France-Presse, “Ethiopia vows to end communications blackout as virus cases rise“, The Guardian, 31 March 2020. 9