Amnesty International Report 2020/21

Amnesty International published the Report for the year 2020/21, which documents the human rights situation in 149 countries in 2020 and provides global and regional analysis. It presents Amnesty International's concerns and calls for action to governments and others. In 2020, the world was rocked by COVID-19. The pandemic and measures taken to tackle it impacted everyone, but also threw into stark relief, and sometimes aggravated cases of inequalities and patterns of abuse.

The report opens up underlining the three main areas of human rights which were impacted by the pandemic: violation of the rights to life, health, and social protection; gender-based violence and threats to sexual and reproductive rights and repression of dissent. Regarding each area, the report makes a list of recommendations directed to governments and policy-makers.

Regarding Italy, the report highlights that the authorities took decisions that have increased the risk of COVID-19 infection for older people in care homes leading to preventable deaths. Refugees’ and migrants’ access to Italian territory was limited and their rights were restricted during the lockdown. Cooperation with Libyan authorities on migration continued. The criminalisation of rescue NGOs persisted. There were numerous deaths in custody and reports of torture. Poor and homeless people endured lockdown with inadequate housing. Domestic violence cases rose during the lockdown.

Amnesty International is a movement of 10 million people which mobilizes humanity in everyone and campaigns for change so we can all enjoy our human rights. Amnesty International is impartial. It takes no position on issues of sovereignty, territorial disputes or international political or legal arrangements that might be adopted to implement the right to self-determination.