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The inhumane treatment of refugees and migrants threatens to stall progress on tackling COVID-19, Amnesty International said today, warning that overcrowded camps and detention centres will become new epicentres unless urgent action is taken. The organization said that lockdowns and movement restrictions have exacerbated dire living conditions, leaving millions of people at risk of starvation and illness.

The organization is calling for concerted global action to ensure hundreds of thousands of people on the move are provided with adequate access to food, water, sanitation and healthcare to ensure their survival as countries prepare to come out of lockdown.

“It is impossible to properly contain this virus when so many people worldwide are living in desperately overcrowded, unsanitary camps and detention centres. At a time when we need compassion and cooperation more than ever some governments have instead doubled down on discrimination and abuse – preventing deliveries of food and water, locking people up, or sending them back to war and persecution,” said Iain Byrne, Head of Amnesty International’s Refugee and Migrant Rights team.

OTTAWA – Advocates across Canada are increasingly facing threats, intimidation, and harassment for sounding the alarm on serious human rights concerns in China, according to a new report.       

The Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China, a coalition of Canada-based civil society organizations with a specific focus on the place of human rights in Canada’s foreign policy with China, released the report today. The Coalition is calling on Canadian officials to urgently address these deeply worrying incidents, some of which have involved cyberbullying, death threats, racist insults, and aggressive counter-protests organized in response to pro-democracy demonstrations. Many of these cases are clearly linked, either directly or indirectly, to Chinese state actors.

Further, the report highlights a new trend of such incidents taking place on university campuses and secondary schools across Canada.

Responding to news that South China Morning Post journalist Tashny Sukumaran is being investigated by the Malaysian Royal Police for reporting on the mass arrests of migrant workers and refugees in Kuala Lumpur on 1 May, Preethi Bhardwaj, Interim Executive Director of Amnesty International Malaysia, said:

“Authorities must drop the alarming investigation against Tashny Sukumaran immediately. Journalists who report on human rights abuses related to the pandemic should be able to carry out their work without fear of persecution. During a pandemic, authorities should have more important priorities than prosecuting reporters for articles they don’t like.”

“The Malaysian government has repeatedly used laws including the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act to curb criticism of the government since the start of the pandemic. Amnesty International Malaysia has long criticised the use of these laws, which are open to arbitrary use by the authorities, to silence journalists, government critics, and human rights defenders. These provisions must go,” Bhardwaj said.

Amnesty International is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all the prisoners of conscience it is campaigning for worldwide, who are now at heightened risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As this devastating virus sweeps across the globe, prisons are at risk of becoming dangerous hotspots for COVID-19. It is more important than ever that states take urgent measures to protect all those who are behind bars, including by releasing all individuals who are held simply for peacefully exercising their rights,” said Sauro Scarpelli, Deputy Campaigns Director at Amnesty International.

“Prisoners of conscience have not committed a crime, and yet they continue to be arbitrarily detained in conditions that are now becoming increasingly perilous. The overcrowding and lack of sanitation in many prisons around the world make it impossible for detainees to take preventive steps against the disease, such as physical distancing and regular hand washing. Their unjustified detention is putting them at heightened risk.”

The Nigerian authorities must ensure that health workers in the frontline of COVID-19 response have access to the protective equipment they need, said Amnesty International Nigeria today marking International Workers Day.

Brave health workers have been working in difficult conditions, providing health services in the fight against COVID-19. They face the risks of being exposed to the COVID-19 virus, stigmatization, separation from their families, mental health and other concerns.

“Across Nigeria, health workers are facing extremely difficult and unsafe conditions of work, such as shortages of personal protective equipment, dilapidated and overstretched health facilities, unfair remuneration and harassment by security forces,” said Osai Ojigho Director Amnesty International Nigeria

VANCOUVER, Coast Salish Territories – Today, 38 human rights, health, prisoner rights, and legal organizations are calling on BC’s Chief Coroner and BC’s Solicitor General to direct an immediate inquest into the tragic death of a man in Correctional Service Canada’s custody at Mission Institution. His death on April 15th is the first reported COVID-related death of a federal prisoner.

In their letter, the 38 provincial and national organizations state, “Amidst a global pandemic, we cannot continue to sit back and watch people die in prison from the ticking time bomb of COVID-19 spreading through these institutions.” The organizations recognize that an inquest is absolutely in the public interest and is a minimum first step to ensure that similar deaths can be prevented.

Reacting to the publication today of US Africa Command’s (AFRICOM) first quarterly assessment of civilian casualties resulting from its operations in Africa, which acknowledges that two Somali civilians were killed and three injured in an air strike, Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Eastern Africa, said:

“This first regular public report acknowledging AFRICOM’s role in civilian casualties is a welcome glimmer of transparency in more than a decade of deadly military operations that until now have been shrouded in secrecy. Now there must be accountability and reparation for the victims and their families – the US military has still neither contacted nor offered reparation to the families of any of the civilians it has admitted to killing.