This month we cover the impact of Covid-19 on human rights in the region as well as more general human rights news. Amnesty has issued the human rights responsibilities for state response to Covid-19 for the Americas. This includes a paper which sets out four things governments should do and four things they should not. States should:

• Not discriminate
• Not leave behind high-risk groups
• Not use repression or excessive force in enforcing public health measures.
• Not censor or limit access to evidence-based information or prevention

States should:

• Guarantee workers’ rights and social security
• Guarantee access to adequate water, sanitation and health for all
• Ensure a gender-focused response to the pandemic
• Protect people’s rights to privacy

We also have 2 Urgent Actions for Venezuela, a petition for Peru and Amnesty statements on recent events in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil.

This rudimentary health centre in Vila Nova village in Amazonas state, Brazil, is typical of remote medical facilities that serve indigenous communities. It lacks equipment and medicine needed to combat Covid-19

VENEZUELA

Venezuelan National Assembly opposition members and those near them continue to suffer attacks. Representative Ismael Léon was detained from 21 – 23 January 2020 then conditionally released. In this Urgent Action, you can call on President Maduro to put an immediate stop to this repression. Any letters should be addressed to the Venezuelan Ambassador in London as there is still no postal service in or with Venezuela.

On 21 March 2020, journalist Darvinson Rojas was arrested by the Special Action Forces (FAES) of the National Police in an apparent attempt to silence his reporting on the spread of COVID-19 in Venezuela. Darvinson is in the custody of FAES custody, who have an appalling record of committing grave human rights violations. In this Urgent Action, you can demand his immediate and unconditional release.

This article from Human Rights Watch questions how the country’s collapsing health system will cope with the COVID-19 outbreak and the consequences for Venezuelans’ right to health and for the rest of Latin America. [click to continue…]