International Human Rights, Pandemic Science, and the Promotion of a Liberal International Order Under COVID-19

The global COVID-19 pandemic has hosted a rising trend of states engaging in political interference in science underlying public health measures against the virus. Such illiberal actions are counterproductive to hopes of addressing the virus because they impede the operations of scientific inquiry and threaten the integrity of scientific findings. Such actions are also problematic because they raise potential human rights issues of scientists. The linkage of human rights and pandemic science, however, opens possibilities for actions in international law. International human rights instruments, because they encompass the human rights of scientists, provide a means of defending pandemic science against political interference by states. As a result, they proffer a means of public health diplomacy that allows proponents of liberal democracy to support both global pandemic science efforts and the promotion of liberal values in other states.