International Human Rights Weekly News Roundup

October 22, 2020October 22, 2020 / hrcessex / Leave a comment

In focus

#EndSARS demonstrators killed while peacefully protesting against state brutality in Lagos, Nigeria

Protestors in Lagos came under fire from uniformed men this week as they joined thousands in demonstrations against police brutality. Witnesses described soldiers firing directly into the crowds of protestors, and Amnesty International tweeted that it had “received credible but disturbing evidence of excessive use of force occasioning deaths of protestors at Lekki toll gate in Lagos”. Lekki, a wealthy suburb of Lagos, has been the epicentre of protests against the abuses perpetrated by the government’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

SARS was set up in 1992 to combat rising crime, armed gangs and robberies in particular. For 3 decades, there have been accusations of corruption, violence and extrajudicial killings by the unit. Recent protests were sparked by a video emerging of a man being killed in the street by the squad. The Nigerian government has been promising to disband the squad for several years but did not do so until last week. Despite the unit being dissolved, protests continued against what is seen as a wider problem of government and police brutality. The President’s directive to dissolve SARS does little to satisfy the demands of protestors, because the squad’s officers are set to be redeployed, rather than brought to justice.

The Director of Amnesty International Nigeria said “We call on the Nigerian authorities to listen to the demands of their people and promptly, thoroughly, impartially, effectively and transparently investigate all cases of human rights violations by the police, including the unlawful killings of the #EndSARS protestors”. UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, said he was closely monitoring developments in Nigeria and called for “an end to reported police brutality and abuses”.

International Human Rights Weekly News Roundup

October 15, 2020October 15, 2020 / hrcessex / Leave a comment

by Pauline Canham

In focus

Saudi Arabia’s bid to join Human Rights Council fails

China, Russia and Pakistan have been elected to the Human Rights Council for the next three years, while Saudi Arabia failed to win a seat in the 13th October vote, despite being the current chair of the G20. A secret ballot in geographical areas decides the seats, with Asia Pacific the only contested region this time. The UK and France were unopposed in their election to the council, representing Western Europe, and Russia and Ukraine were similarly unopposed for Eastern Europe. Saudi Arabia lost out to Pakistan (who won the most votes for Asia), Uzbekistan, Nepal and China, though China’s share of the vote dropped by 20% compared to the last election in 2016. China has come under widespread criticism for human rights abuses, most notably its treatment of the Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang province, and brutality towards protestors in Hong Kong.

Saudi Arabia was the only country that competed unsuccessfully for the Asia Pacific seat that it last held in 2019. The killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the imprisoning of women’s rights advocates and the catastrophic war in Yemen, all policies of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, have been cited as reasons for the lack of support for the Kingdom this time.

There were 15 seats available, with the remaining seats going to Ivory Coast, Gabon, Malawi and Senegal for Africa, and Bolivia, Cuba and Mexico representing the Latin American region. President Trump pulled the United States out of the Human Rights Council in 2018, accusing the UNHCR of giving seats to human rights abusers. US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said that the US has pressed for reform of the council, but “those calls went unheeded”, adding that the elections on 13th October only validated their decision to withdraw.

Rights groups have expressed their concern about allowing the worst of human rights violators to join the council. UN director at Human Rights Watch, Louis Charbonneau, said “Serial rights abuses should not be rewarded with seats on the Human Rights Council”. The executive director of independent Geneva based human rights group, UN Watch, said “Electing these dictatorships as UN judges on human rights is like making a gang of arsonists into the fire brigade”.

International Human Rights Weekly News Roundup

October 8, 2020 / hrcessex / Leave a comment

by Pauline Canham

In focus

UK Covid policy on care homes violated human rights

Amnesty International has published a report As if Expendable which shows that the UK government adopted policies that “directly violated the human rights of older residents of care homes in England”. The report specifically highlighted the decision, in the early days of lockdown, to send elderly patients out of hospital and into care homes without being tested, putting other elderly care home residents at risk. This, Amnesty said, violated their rights to life, health and non-discrimination and, as one care home manager expressed, treated people who had made contributions to society throughout their lives as “expendable”.

More than 18,000 care home residents died with Covid-19, and Amnesty is calling for a public enquiry to start immediately in order that urgent lessons can be learned. Donatella Rovera, the author of Amnesty’s report told Channel 4 that the government “forgot about care homes” and that elderly patients were released from hospitals at very short notice into care homes which did not have mechanisms in place to support a protective environment for the most vulnerable. “Care home managers were unable to obtain PPE” and staff were not trained to deal with the crisis. She

The report also discovered that a number of care homes across the country were asked to insert Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) forms into residents’ files as a “blanket approach”. One care home manager was told by the local Care Commissioning Group, “none of your patients over the age of 75 will be admitted to hospital”. Amnesty International UK’s Director, Kate Allen, said “The Government made a series of shockingly irresponsible decisions which abandoned care home residents to die”, calling it “a scandal of monumental proportions”.

Though, in theory, visits to care homes by families were allowed to begin again in July, access is still severely restricted due to lack of available testing, meaning that elderly and vulnerable people remain isolated. One dementia charity, John’s Campaign says care homes in England are still refusing face-to-face visits, which are essential for those with severe dementia. 70% of care home residents across the country have dementia, a neuro-degenerative disease that erodes a person’s sense of self and maintaining family connections are crucial for their survival. The charity understands the need for caution, but there are other risks besides Covid-19 and dementia sufferers needs should be taken into account.

In a separate case, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission is supporting Cathy Gardner in her action against health Secretary, Matt Hancock, seeking a judicial review into the government’s failure to protect care home residents. Mrs Gardner, who lost her father during the pandemic , is a member of the group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK , the same group Boris Johnson refused to meet in late August.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said “From the start of the pandemic, we have been doing everything we can to ensure care home residents and staff are protected”, adding “This includes testing all residents and staff, providing over 228m items of PPE ring-fencing over £1.1bn to prevent infections in care homes and making a further £3.7bn available to councils to address pressures caused by the pandemic – including in adult social care.” Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Leader, Sir Ed Davy commented on the report, saying it was “an utterly damning indictment of the way in which this Conservative government has treated some of the most vulnerable in our society”.

Human Rights centre blog

University of Essex

October 2020

International Human Rights Weekly News Roundup

In focus

#EndSARS demonstrators killed while peacefully protesting against state brutality in Lagos, Nigeria

Other stories making the headlines around the world

International Human Rights Weekly News Roundup

In focus

Saudi Arabia’s bid to join Human Rights Council fails

Other stories making the headlines around the world