In 2021, rich countries have teamed up with corporate giants to deceive people with empty slogans and false promises of a just recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, representing one of the greatest treacheries of our time, Amnesty International said.
Poor distribution of Covid vaccines has been one of the main issues that has marked 2021, according to the organization’s latest annual report, titled The Human Rights Situation in the World. Along with the issue of vaccines, they also highlight the proliferation of repressive laws and against freedom of expression, passed last year in several countries around the world in the style of the gag law in Spain, the increase in violent conflicts and sexist violence.
The very city chosen by the international organization to present the report, Johannesburg, has a lot to do with this complaint. “There has been collusion between rich countries and corporations over vaccines that has led to increases in poverty and insecurity, so the report is presented here,” the organization said at the press conference that submitted the report .
500 million excess doses are still expiring
“Remember what they told us at the end of 2020 that they would do better to rebuild,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International. “Best for whose interests?” he asks.
In September, the organization counted 500 million doses of surplus vaccine stockpiled by developed countries, “enough to fully vaccinate the populations of several of the world’s least vaccinated countries.”
The report highlights that as of September, the organization counted 500 million doses of excess vaccine stockpiled by developed countries, “enough to fully vaccinate the populations of several of the world’s least vaccinated countries.” However, Amnesty International denounces that these states are abandoning and destroying many of these doses while the drug companies are making millions in profits. At the end of last year, the proportion of people with the complete cure in Africa did not reach 8%, compared to the 40% target set by the World Health Organization, the European average of 70% or the 92.4% that Spain will reach in March 2022.
The report highlights that Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna projected exorbitant profits of up to $54 billion in 2021 but shipped less than 2% of their vaccines to low-income countries.
Nothing has been done at government level to avoid this imbalance. Amnesty International criticizes the fact that several wealthy countries like the EU member states, including Spain, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, have systematically blocked initiatives aimed at increasing global production of vaccines and are refusing to Proposal to support a temporary exemption from intellectual property.
A year of bloody conflicts
Last year was also a year of armed conflict, with new scenarios adding to those that had spilled blood in previous years. Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Myanmar, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Yemen are some of the areas where human rights have been trampled on in the context of political conflicts that the international community has remained loud Amnesty International inactive. As a result, millions of people are displaced.
“Global inaction to deal with these escalating conflicts has led to increased instability and devastation. The ineffectiveness of the international response to these crises was illustrated by the paralysis of the UN Security Council, which failed to respond to the atrocities in Myanmar, human rights abuses in Afghanistan, or war crimes in Syria,” the organization explains in its report. “This shameful inaction, continued paralysis of multilateral organizations and lack of accountability by powerful states helped prepare the ground for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which flagrantly violated international law,” it said.
Asia Asia The layers of the coup in Myanmar
The February 1 coup in Myanmar has to do with Buddhist nationalism and hatred of the Rohingya, two elements paradoxically shared by the parties involved.
A global gag law
“The arrests at the annual vigil in Hong Kong or Afghanistan should have served as a wake-up call,” admits Callamard. “If we’re not careful, states will demand more and more power, the limited spaces we have to debate will be further reduced, so in a few weeks Amnesty International will present a global campaign to demand the right to freedom of protest.” , continues
Amnesty International notes that the global trend of silencing independent and critical voices gained momentum in 2021 as governments deployed a growing array of tools and tactics. Human rights defenders, NGOs, the media and opposition leaders have been unlawfully detained, tortured and disappeared, many under the guise of the pandemic. On the very day of March 28, the day Amnesty International submitted its report, Belarus banned one of its main civil bird protection organizations
In addition, they denounce from the organization that in 2021 at least 67 countries have passed new laws aimed at restricting freedom of expression, association or assembly, including the United Kingdom and in the United States there are at least 36 states which at least 80 bills in this direction have been tabled
Facial recognition as a control method, used in Russia – but its use is also being implanted in Spain – the blocking of “national security” websites in China and many other countries are added to the new legislation. “Rather than creating spaces for essential dialogue and debate on how best to address the challenges of 2021, many states have redoubled their efforts to silence critical voices,” Agnès Callamard continues.
And what in Spain?
In Spain, restricting the right to freedom of expression and assembly is nothing new. Six and a half years have passed since its enactment during Mariano Rajoy’s government and the reform of the Citizen Security Law is still ongoing. This is one of the points made by Amnesty International regarding the situation of the Spanish State in relation to human rights violations. Others are the use of the Penal Code for so-called opinion crimes such as “glorifying terrorism” or insulting the Crown, which has set the Pablo Hasel case as an international benchmark; or the excessive use of force by security forces and rubber bullets
“The only piece of good news in this area in 2021 was the release of activists Jordi Sánchez and Jordi Cuixart after four years when they should never have been in prison,” Amnesty International’s report highlights.
In Spain, according to the organization, there was the “biggest human rights violation of the pandemic”: discrimination against older people in residential homes, which went practically unpunished
But curbing public liberties is not the only threat to rights Amnesty International sees in Spain. In 2020, Spain saw the “biggest human rights violation of the pandemic,” according to the organization: discrimination against older people in residential homes, which went virtually unpunished. “The year 2021 is the year of impunity: not a single person has been found guilty of these crimes and yet none of the factions in Congress have spoken out in favor of setting up a truth commission for the time being,” said Esteban Beltrán , Director of Amnesty International Spain. Add to this what the organization has dubbed “the other pandemic”: the lack of adequate access to medical care for people with chronic illnesses, the elderly and people with mental health problems, which puts their physical and mental health at risk and, in the context of a healthcare system, which is on the verge of collapse, is having a particular impact on women, particularly in primary care.
Amnesty International has also highlighted the double standard regarding people arriving in Spain in search of refuge. “On the one hand, the government strives for a quick response to those who come to Spain from Ukraine or Afghanistan, but it does not act in the same way towards other people who may also be fleeing violence or persecution. ‘ the report explains. “We cannot one day welcome those fleeing the war with open arms and the next day beat with utter brutality those who jump over the fence in Melilla. It is incoherent to demand a coordinated and open response to refugees in the European Union and then to carry out rapid repatriation, including of minors, and to justify everything with immigration controls. The Spanish authorities must decide whether they want to comply with international law at their borders or only do so when it is of the utmost interest,” says Esteban Beltrán, who also warns against violence against women, of access to housing or restricting sexual and reproductive ones Rights as another point to emphasize.