UN agencies uphold human rights considerations in COVID-19 data collection

According to a news report, the UN and 15 of its agencies have in a joint statement expressed their support for all forms of data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic, as long as they respect the right to privacy and promote development. The UN, however, raised a concern in the statement that digital contact tracing applications could be used in collecting vast amounts of sensitive personal and non-personal information, which could pose a risk if the data ends up being used for purposes other than curbing the spread of the virus. This, according to the UN, could lead to an infringement of fundamental human rights and freedoms.