This panel discussed diverse surveillance technologies being applied in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their implications for human rights and privacy. The panel addressed the benefits and risks of technologies such as cellphone or Bluetooth contract tracing, immunity passports, and others. It further emerged that different countries, such as the EU, Australia, and Singapore, are taking different legal approaches to these issues and that different cultural or political attitudes impact how societies have been responding to surveillance. Further, the existing international human rights framework sets standards – such as legality, necessity, and proportionality – which apply to the use of surveillance technologies. Finally, not only governments but also the private sector, civil society, and the public, have an important role to play in managing the balance between safety and human rights.

Moderator: Prof Simon Chesterman, CIL Deputy Chairman and Dean of the Faculty of Law (NUS). Panellists: Mr Benjamin Wong, Sheridan Fellow, Faculty of Law (NUS), Prof Vivek Krishnamurthy, Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa, and Ms Peggy Hicks, Director, Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and the Right to Development Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Introductory remarks: Dr Ayelet Berman, Senior Research Fellow, CIL.