In many places, it became more difficult to get an abortion, sex workers were beaten and the homeless were fined during the coronary arrests, the human rights organization says.
When people around the world were ordered to shut down society after the corona pandemic broke out, people were restricted and masked people were forced to disregard the consequences for human rights, the human rights organization Amnesty International said.
People who are already marginalized or discriminated against, such as sexual and gender minorities, sex workers, drug users and the homeless, are particularly affected by the restrictions, the organization said in a recent report.
Many countries would punish those who violate interest rate restrictions instead of helping people comply with them. This led to human rights violations and criminalization for those who had difficulty complying with the restrictions, for example due to a shortage of money and a lack of public aid, Amnesty said in a report based on a survey of organizations in 28 countries, among others.
Many of the poor had to break restrictions to get the basic needs of their families, but at the same time he took the risk of punishment. Your hands and face masks were also out of reach of many living in poverty.
“Corona action deepens discrimination”
According to the report, particularly vulnerable people were monitored, harassed, fined, warned and detained by the authorities. Marginalized groups in particular were also called upon to leave public places, as well as police violence.
Nearly 70 percent of the organizations that responded to the survey reported that corona measures exacerbated systematic discrimination against certain groups of people.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, sex workers’ organizations report that sex workers were raped and beaten by police under the guise of infection control. In Argentina, for example, police violence against sex workers increased following the outbreak of the pandemic.
In Nigeria, police added raids to brothels and publicly beat and stripped naked transgender people before arresting them.
In some countries, marginalized groups of people were already criminalized before the pandemic. As a result, during the pandemic, the authorities could focus on punishing and discriminating against them instead of helping them, says an expert from Amnesty Finland Mariko Sato in the department bulletin.
Access to abortion became more difficult, shelters were closed
Many governments also failed to define essential health services such as abortion, prevention, gender identity and harm reduction.
The definition of necessity would have been necessary to ensure availability even during a pandemic.
In India, for example, the authorities considered abortion not a necessary health care. This allowed health care to refuse to have an abortion and put people in need of abortion at risk, Amnesty says.
Several countries, such as France, Ireland, Nepal, and the United Kingdom, facilitated access to abortion services through remote health care. Other countries, such as Colombia, Poland, Slovakia and the United States, created unnecessary barriers, such as restricting access to remote services, Amnesty says.
Victims of domestic violence, on the other hand, often had to stay with their perpetrators during coronary embargoes when there was no other place. Shelters were closed and counseling services were reduced.
Homelessness could result in fines
In some countries, homelessness was combated during corona restrictions by temporarily banning evictions and opening temporary emergency accommodation, for example in empty buildings, schools and hotels.
On the other hand, in many countries, such as Costa Rica, Indonesia and Poland, those living on the streets were not told where they could go and how to protect themselves.
In addition, in some countries, homeless people were fined for violating the curfew, even though they had nowhere to go.
Amnesty’s survey is based on a survey of 54 organizations in 28 countries. The countries are:
Angola, Argentina, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Poland, South -Africa, Tajikistan, United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In addition, Amnesty has used sources in the report, including media reports and research articles, as well as studies by Amnesty and other organizations on the impact of the pandemic. Amnesty also spoke with several international organizations and experts.