Global: Health workers silenced, exposed and attacked | Amnesty International
▻https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/health-workers-rights-covid-report
▻https://www.amnesty.org:443/remote.axd/aineupstrmediaprd.blob.core.windows.net/media/23609/brazil-nurses-covid-19.jpg?center=0.5,0.5&preset=fixed_1200_630
Governments must be held accountable for the deaths of health and essential workers who they have failed to protect from COVID-19, Amnesty International said today, as it released a new report documenting the experiences of health workers around the world.
The organization’s analysis of available data has revealed that more than 3000 health workers are known to have died from COVID-19 worldwide - a figure which is likely to be a significant underestimate.
Alarmingly, Amnesty International documented cases where health workers who raise safety concerns in the context of the COVID-19 response have faced retaliation, ranging from arrest and detention to threats and dismissal.
With the pandemic still accelerating around the world, we are urging governments to start taking health and essential workers’ lives seriously.
Sanhita Ambast, Researcher and Advisor on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic still accelerating around the world, we are urging governments to start taking health and essential workers’ lives seriously. Countries yet to see the worst of the pandemic must not repeat the mistakes of governments whose failure to protect workers’ rights has had devastating consequences,” said Sanhita Ambast, Amnesty International’s Researcher and Advisor on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“It is especially disturbing to see that some governments are punishing workers who voice their concerns about working conditions that may threaten their lives. Health workers on the frontline are the first to know if government policy is not working, and authorities who silence them cannot seriously claim to be prioritising public health.”
Thousands have lost their lives
