Instead of addressing deep-seated socioeconomic inequalities to deliver a fair recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, states across the Americas waged a sustained assault on the defence of human rights in 2021, targeting peaceful demonstrators, journalists, human rights defenders and civil society organizations in a bid to silence or stamp out dissent, Amnesty International said today upon publishing its annual report. The region remains the world’s deadliest for human rights defenders and environmental activists, with at least 20 killings just in January 2022 and dozens more last year in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
the Americas is still the region with the most deaths from Covid-19, largely due to limited and unequal access to healthcare, poorly funded public health systems, and inadequate social protection policies and measures for marginalized communities. Impunity for grave human rights violations and crimes under international law remains a serious concern in more than half the countries in the region, while attacks on judicial independence have also increased.
“It’s shameful and unconscionable that instead of addressing the injustices and deep-seated inequalities that have plagued the Americas for generations and exacerbated the impact of the pandemic, many governments have instead sought to silence and repress those who protest peacefully and speak out in demand of a safer, fairer and more compassionate world,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.
The Americas has achieved the world’s second-highest vaccination rates per capita, with Cuba and Chile leading the way in vaccinating over 90 percent of their populations, but unequal regional access has undermined protection in countries like Haiti, where less than two percent of the population had been vaccinated as of 10 March 2022. Meanwhile, wealthy nations such as the USA and Canada stockpiled more doses than needed and turned a blind eye as Big Pharma put profits ahead of people, refusing to share their technology to enable wider distribution of vaccines.[1]
[1] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/03/americas-human-rights-under-fire/