Amnesty International
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Amnesty International is a movement of 10 million people which mobilizes the humanity in everyone and campaigns for change so we can all enjoy our human rights. Our vision is of a world where those in power keep their promises, respect international law and are held to account. We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and individual donations. We believe that acting in solidarity and compassion with people everywhere can change our societies for the better. Amnesty International is impartial. We take no position on issues of sovereignty, territorial disputes or international political or legal arrangements that might be adopted to implement the right to self- determination. This report is organized according to the countries we monitored during the year. In general, they are independent states that are accountable for the human rights situation on their territory. First published in 2021 by Except where otherwise noted, This report documents Amnesty Amnesty International Ltd content in this document is Internationalos work and Peter Benenson House, licensed under a concerns through 2020. 1, Easton Street, CreativeCommons (attribution, The absence of an entry in this London WC1X 0DW non-commercial, no derivatives, report on a particular country or United Kingdom international 4.0) licence. territory does not imply that no https://creativecommons.org/ © Amnesty International 2021 human rights violations of licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode concern to Amnesty International IndeZ|P1L 102022021 For more information please visit have taken place there during ISB0|021001 the permissions page on our the year. Nor is the length of a website: www.amnesty.org country entry any basis for a A catalogue record for this book comparison of the extent and is available from the British amnesty.org depth of Amnesty Internationalos Library. concerns in a country. Original language: English ii Amnesty International Report 2020/21 |AMNESTY| |INTERNATIONAL| |RE2ORT 2020/21| T*E STATE O( T*E 9ORL&oS *7MAN RI)*TS iv Amnesty International Report 2020/21 CONTENTS ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21 Abbreviations| Czech Republic|1 Preface| Democratic Republic of the Global Analysis|1 Congo|1 Africa regional overview|1 Denmark|1 Americas regional overview| Dominican Republic|1 Asia-Pacific regional overview| Ecuador|1 Europe and Central Asia regional Egypt|1 overview|1 El Salvador|11 Middle East and North Africa Equatorial Guinea|1 regional overview| Eritrea|1 Afghanistan| Estonia|1 Albania|1 Eswatini|1 Algeria| Ethiopia|1 Angola| Fiji|11 Argentina| Finland|1 Armenia|0 France|1 Australia| Georgia|1 Austria| Germany|1 Azerbaijan| Ghana|10 Bahrain| Greece|1 Bangladesh| Guatemala|1 Belarus| Guinea|1 Belgium| Honduras|1 Benin| Hungary|10 Bolivia| India|1 Bosnia and Herzegovina|1 Indonesia|1 Botswana| Iran|10 Brazil| Iraq|1 Bulgaria| Ireland|1 Burkina Faso|101 Israel and the Occupied Burundi|10 Palestinian Territories|00 Cambodia|10 Italy|0 Cameroon|10 Japan|0 Canada|110 Jordan|0 Central African Republic|11 Kazakhstan|1 Chad|11 Kenya|1 Chile|11 Kosovo|1 China|11 Kuwait|1 Colombia|1 Kyrgyzstan|0 Congo (Republic of the)|1 Latvia| Côte d'Ivoire|11 Lebanon| Croatia|1 Lesotho| Cuba|1 Libya| Cyprus|1 Lithuania| Amnesty International Report 2020/21 v Madagascar| Switzerland| Malawi| Syria| Malaysia| Taiwan| Mali| Tajikistan|0 Malta|1 Tanzania| Mexico| Thailand| Moldova| Togo| Mongolia| Trinidad and Tobago| Montenegro|0 Tunisia|0 Morocco/Western Sahara|1 Turkey| Mozambique| Turkmenistan| Myanmar| Uganda| Nepal|0 Ukraine| Netherlands| United Arab Emirates| New Zealand| United Kingdom| Nicaragua| United States of America| Niger| Uruguay| Nigeria| Uzbekistan| North Korea| Venezuela|0 North Macedonia| Viet Nam| Norway| Yemen| Oman| Zambia|01 Pakistan| Zimbabwe|0 Palestine (State of)| Papua New Guinea| Paraguay| Peru| Philippines|1 Poland| Portugal| Puerto Rico| Qatar| Romania|01 Russian Federation|0 Rwanda|0 Saudi Arabia|0 Senegal|1 Serbia|1 Sierra Leone|1 Singapore |1 Slovakia|1 Slovenia|0 Somalia| South Africa| South Korea| South Sudan|0 Spain| Sri Lanka| Sudan|0 Sweden| vi Amnesty International Report 2020/21 ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN ICCPR Association of Southeast Asian Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights AU African Union ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social CEDAW and Cultural Rights UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross CEDAW Committee UN Committee on the Elimination of ILO Discrimination against Women International Labour Organization CERD International Convention against enforced International Convention on the Elimination of disappearance All Forms of Racial Discrimination International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance CERD Committee UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial LGBTI Discrimination Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex CIA US Central Intelligence Agency NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization COVID-19 Coronavirus disease-19 NGO Non-governmental organization ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States OAS Organization of American States EU European Union OCHA United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of European Committee for the Prevention of Humanitarian Affairs Torture European Committee for the Prevention of OHCHR Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment Office of the United Nations High or Punishment Commissioner for Human Rights European Convention on Human Rights OSCE (European) Convention for the Protection of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Europe ICC PPE International Criminal Court Personal protective equipment Amnesty International Report 2020/21 vii UK UNICEF United Kingdom United Nations Childrenos Fund UN UPR United Nations UN Universal Periodic Review UN Convention against Torture USA Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, United States of America Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment WHO World Health Organization UN Refugee Convention Convention relating to the Status of Refugees UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression UN Special Rapporteur on racism Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance UN Special Rapporteur on torture Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women Special rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences UNHCR, the UN refugee agency Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees viii Amnesty International Report 2020/21 PREFACE In 2020, a mere cluster of molecules shook the whole world. Smaller than can be seen by the naked eye, a very local virus unleashed with marked rapidity a global pandemic. Whatever will be proven to be its precise genesis, the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its mass casualties flourished in part thanks to our global milieu of deeper, broader inequalities within and between countries. It has been made far worse by austerity policies that weakened public infrastructure and public health systems|by international architecture enfeebled in form, function and leadership. And it has been made far worse under pressure from leaders of states who demonize and exclude, asserting archaic constructs of state sovereignty and peddling rejectionist approaches to science, evidence and universal norms. These are exceptional times. But have we risen to meet their challenge? Exceptional times oblige exceptional responses and demand exceptional leadership. In 2020, exceptional leadership came not from power, privilege, or profits. It came instead from nurses, doctors, and health workers on the frontlines of life- saving services. It came from those who cared for older people. It came from technicians and scientists running millions of tests and trials, frantically searching for vaccines. It came from those who, bunched together more often at the very bottom of the income scale, worked to feed the rest of us; who cleaned our streets; cared for the bodies of the hundreds of thousands of deceased; repaired our essential services; patrolled our streets; drove what remained of our public transport. In 2020, as so much of the world shut down, it was those people who stood up, who stood out. So too, those who stayed home in solidarity, if they had a home to live in, who maintained emotionally costly physical distance, and who cared for those around them. But underneath that heroism, pandemic times laid bare the devastating consequences of abuse of power, structurally and historically. The COVID-19 pandemic may not define who we are, but it certainly has amplified what we should not be. Seeing this clearly, again people stood up. They rose against inequality, they rose against police violence targeted disproportionately against Black people, against minorities, poor, and homeless people. They rose against exclusion, patriarchy, and the hateful rhetoric and cruel conduct of supremacist leadership. The demands of the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements echoed the world