More than half the world’s countries, including EU Member States, have enacted emergency measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. A significant aspect of governments’ emergency responses has been a rapid and unprecedented scaling up of their use of technologies to enable widespread digital contact tracing and surveillance. Three years after the start of the pandemic, now is the time to take stock. This panel seeks to understand what actually occurred after the surveillance measures were first introduced, beyond the initial wave of media coverage. Speakers from civil society, EU agencies and academia will reflect on the efficacy and proportionality of pandemic-related surveillance measures and their impact on human rights globally. We will also determine what lessons have been learned so that governments, civic actors and companies are better prepared for future health or other emergencies.
• What were the impacts of pandemic-related surveillance measures on human rights and civil society globally?
• How can emergency measures be abused by governments and companies?
• What happened to the many surveillance measures adopted during the pandemic?
• What lessons can we draw for future health or other emergencies?
