Covid-19 and Digital Rights in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused tensions between protecting public health and upholding fundamental rights and freedoms, resulting in high-pressure on digital rights. Extending existing human rights and freedoms to cyberspace has more than ever come to the fore.

In some cases, authorities succeeded in guaranteeing the enjoyment of fundamental rights and freedoms online. But they fell short in many others, in particular, regarding the right to education, due process rights, the right to privacy. More, some authorities used the pandemic to crack down on digital rights. This is especially true about the freedom of expression.

Analysing the digital rights crisis in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, reveals different approaches in each country to the above-mentioned cases. In order to get over the crisis, such complexity urges extensive legal, political and social transformations. Hence, this brief identifies the necessary transformations and provides guidance to undergo them, highlighting among the most significant: adopting a rights-based approach, countering the digital divide, increasing transparency over the internet, enhancing data security and protection.