In South Asia, governments tended to adopt two approaches to contain the spread of the pandemic. The Maldives and Sri Lanka declared state of emergencies, while Bangladesh, India and Nepal relied on temporary health emergency laws. Regardless of the differences between these two approaches, all these measures restricted people’s civic freedoms, thus curbing democracy in the region. The policy brief “Moving Beyond COVID-19 Restrictions in South Asia: Pushing Back Against Authoritarian Pandemic Governance” makes an assessment of the impact of anti-COVID-19 legal measures on people’s fundamental rights in South Asia.