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Amnesty International (AI) Portugal defended this Friday that making the StayAway Covid application mandatory “endangers fundamental freedoms and individual rights”, also questioning the direction and “governance models” that are being followed.
“Amnesty International Portugal considers that the proposed law to make the use of the StayAway Covid app mandatory calls into question fundamental freedoms and individual rights, which disproportionately affect people and have no objective purpose. The organization also it questions the direction it is taking and the governance models that are sought to legitimize with measures of this nature, “AI defended in a statement released this Friday.
The Government’s proposal to make the installation and use of the StayAway Covid application mandatory, which allows users to receive notifications of close contacts with infected people, has already passed to parliament, but is generating controversy, with some parties and organizations allude to it. against a measure that they consider authoritarian and in violation of civil rights and liberties, the President of the Republic having already advanced the intention of requesting verification of its constitutionality.
AI also understands that the application, which “already raised serious concerns” when its use was optional, now raises, with the possibility of mandatory use, “more questions, related to the freedom and privacy of users, the application of the measure, the discrimination from multiple people and the true reliability of the app. “
AI asks, in relation to the application of the measure, how will the inspection by the security forces be, asking if the verification will be random and how it will evaluate which mobile phones are capable, or not, of having the application installed.
Mandatory use deprives citizens of the option to use their own mobile phones, defended the AI, which also identifies security hazards.
“From a discrimination point of view, this proposal raises too many questions. First, the measure assumes that everyone has a mobile phone or ‘smartphone’ with certain characteristics, as well as a data plan or Wi-Fi access. fi “, reads the statement that, citing the head of communication for the human rights defender organization, Paulo Fontes, also questions whether it will not be punishable not to have a balance on his cell phone, in addition to being in an area with worse network conditions mobile, situations that configure discrimination against those who live in a situation of greater economic vulnerability.
AI also points out tech literacy issues for people who may have app-compatible equipment, but lack the knowledge to use it.
Regarding the reliability of the application, the Pordata data indicates that the use of the application by people with active work activity -including employees of the Armed Forces and Security, and Public Administration- and students would have installed the application for a few seven million inhabitants. However, not everyone has compatible smartphones and the limitations related to the obligation to have the application active outside the workplace or school are still here, “the statement added.
In the document, Paulo Fontes expresses doubts that this is the mechanism and the necessary response and maintains that “the responses we give to this crisis must be proportionate to their needs, be effective and efficient, focused on people and communities, and be completely focused and based on human rights “, adding that there can be” any exception “.
Portugal represents at least 2,149 deaths associated with covid-19 in 95,902 confirmed cases of infection, according to the latest bulletin from the Directorate General of Health (DGS).
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