Socioeconomic precariousness in times of COVID-19: A human rights quandary under the ECHR

The COVID-19 pandemic, and pandemics in general, affect socioeconomically disadvantaged people more severely. This is due not only to their precarious living, health, andworking conditions, but also to public actions and omissions. However, their plight remainsmostly invisible to the public, governments, and legislators, which raises many questions regardingrespect of their fundamental rights. In this contribution, I explore these questions inlight of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). On the basis of the corpus ofliterature in the field and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case law, I showthat the Strasbourg Court has developed some protection for people in a precarious situation,especially under the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment and the right to privateand family life. This case law is likely to be relevant to the protection of socioeconomicallyunderprivileged people during pandemics. However, this protection is limited and imbuedwith pitfalls. Against this background, I show that there is an urgent need for practitionersand courts to explore an additional tool under the ECHR: the prohibition of discriminationon grounds of socioeconomic status.