Across Africa, Pandemic Lockdowns Risk Violating Human Rights

 | 
04/10/2020

More than half of Africa’s 54 countries are restricting people’s movements in hopes of slowing the spread of the coronavirus, with regulations ranging from evening curfews to the total lockdowns that have been imposed in South Africa, Rwanda and, as of this week, the Seychelles. As those constraints expand, so are concerns about the violation of rights, including the violent tactics being used to enforce some of the new rules. In Kenya, where the government introduced sweeping restrictions on movement in late March, security forces have been accused of killing seven civilians, including a 13-year-old boy who was shot on his balcony when police fired in the air to scatter a crowd. Police in South Africa have killed at least eight people since the country went into a coronavirus lockdown two weeks ago, according to a state oversight body. And police officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo actually circulated a video of an officer beating a taxi driver as a warning to other drivers not to violate a rule against carrying more than one passenger.

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 09/21/2023
09/20/2023
The 69 suspects who were arrested in Nigeria last month in connection with an alleged gay wedding have been released on bail. Over 200 people …
Added on: 09/21/2023
09/20/2023
The country’s first female, and youngest-ever, president was in the LGBTQ+ community’s good books earlier this year when she vetoed an inhumane bill that would have …
Added on: 09/21/2023
09/20/2023
The U.S. Census Bureau asked the Biden administration Tuesday for permission to test questions about sexual orientation and gender identity for people age 15 …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Added on: 09/21/2023
The 69 suspects who were arrested in Nigeria last month in connection with an alleged gay wedding have been released on bail. Over 200 people …
Added on: 09/19/2023
The Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) wants President William Ruto to declare his position on the registration of the Lesbian, Gay, …
Added on: 09/17/2023
Religious leaders and members of parliament are protesting a ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court that dismissed a challenge to its earlier decision this year …