A/HRC/45/12 Certain industries, such as the alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy food and beverages, and fossil fuel industries, are a source of deep concern owing to products and practices that expose individuals to hazardous substances, which can increase the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and disabilities that heighten the risk of death from coronaviruses. 33 45. Another matter of concern has been the reckless conduct and profiteering of some business leaders, who, without any reasonable consideration for the safety and health of workers, manipulate economic fear among the public and governments. Some have deliberately prevented the implementation of protective measures, unfairly criticized some States for imposing lockdowns, publicly and privately pushed for the weakening of environmental and occupational standards, or threatened to move their facilities to other jurisdictions with weaker standards for prevention. Other companies have been accused of corruption, or involved in macabre practices of producing dangerous products and medicines, including those that are counterfeit or falsely claimed as preventing COVID-19. C. Inequality and discrimination 46. Zoonotic diseases have historically illustrated a mismatch between global concerns and the impacts on vulnerable communities, which are often neglected. 34 Various studies have demonstrated that racial, ethnic and religious minorities are disproportionately affected owing to low socioeconomic status, prevalent exclusion and discrimination, placing them at higher vulnerability to infection and mortality, including due to inequalities in access to measures being taken to mitigate exposure to the COVID-19 virus. 35 Their situation is exacerbated by environmental conditions that are symptomatic of entrenched inequalities and structural racism.36 47. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and in various ways, exacerbated inequalities, including through discriminatory laws and practices. Updates on the number of cases and deaths provide a daily tabulation of a pervasive problem of unequal protection from exposure to hazardous substances. The pre-existing or underlying health conditions are manifestations of social injustices, including among those living and working in unhealthy environments. 48. There have been numerous examples in which States, having created situations in which the most marginalized and vulnerable communities faced the greatest risk of death from COVID-19, then failed to ensure that those communities were appropriately protected. Such situations have been starkly apparent in high-income countries with deeply entrenched inequality. States have a heightened obligation to prevent exposure among high-risk groups, particularly given the structural discrimination those groups experienced. 37 1. Race, poverty and environmental injustice 49. Mandate holders of the Human Rights Council have indicated that people living in poverty are becoming poorer, increasingly dispossessed and disproportionately vulnerable to exposure as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. 38 Systemic racism has resulted in marginalized groups being far more likely to be in situations that increase vulnerability to 33 34 35 36 37 38 See https://ncdalliance.org/why-ncds/covid-19/map-unhealthy-industry-responses. See https://environmentlive.unep.org/media/docs/assessments/UNEP_Frontiers_2016 _report_emerging_issues_of_environmental_concern.pdf, p. 20. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Racism/COVID-19_and_Racial_Discrimination.pdf. For more information, see www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Racism/COVID-19_and_ Racial_Discrimination.pdf. See, for example, www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25725. See, for example, www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?News ID=25815&LangID=E. The complete list of responses by States, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations and others to the joint questionnaire on COVID-19 impacts issued by mandate holders of the human rights council is available at: www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Jointquestionnaire-COVID-19.aspx. 11