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By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian authorities 'abandoned' thousands of elderly people who died in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic and did not seek hospital treatment for many who were infected, violating their human rights, Amnesty International said in an investigation published Monday. One of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, Belgium has reported more than 531,000 confirmed virus cases and more than 14,400 deaths linked to the coronavirus. During the first wave of the pandemic last spring, the European nation of 11.5 million people recorded a majority of its COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes. Between March […]
The post Report: Belgian nursing homes failed patients amid pandemic appeared first on Black News Channel.
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
Dear Editor,
Your excellent editorial of 30th August 2020 - entitled `The Death Penalty’ - states that, “Amnesty International has found, for example, that the murder rates in US states which do not have the death penalty are no higher than in those which do”.
The article Capital punishment reduces respect for sanctity of human life appeared first on Stabroek News.
BY BRENNA MATENDERE THE son of former Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Jason Machaya, Foster, died in a car crash on Wednesday night along the Gweru-Mvuma Road in an accident that also claimed the life of a popular Gweru gold baron who was awaiting trial for murder. Midlands provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Joel Goko confirmed the accident, including the death of Willard Mugadza, the gold baron. “The two deceased persons died on the spot at the 43km peg along Gweru-Mvuma Road,” Goko said. “They were in a car which was being driven by Machaya on their way to Gweru from Lalapansi. (Machaya) lost control of the vehicle and it overturned several times before landing on its wheels. Machaya and Mugadza died on the spot and their bodies had multiple fractures. The accident happened at around 2340 hours.” Another passenger, Moses Tami, sustained serious injuries and was admitted to Gweru Provincial Hospital. The late Foster was also accused in March 2009 of murdering an MDC supporter, Moses Chokuda of Gokwe, along with his brother Farai Machaya. Foster was pardoned by the courts, but Farai was jailed for 18 years in a case that attracted nationwide interest after Chokuda’s body spent two years at the Gokwe Hospital mortuary as the two families haggled over compensation. Mugadza was out on bail on a murder charge after he allegedly hacked his former employee Fabian Mabhungu to death during an argument over missing 70 grammes of gold.
Confirmed cases = 1,486 (142 new cases)
Deaths = 17 (three new)
Recoveries = 246
Active cases = 1,219
Total tests = 120,429
June 2: 131m masks needed, over 1,000 active cases
\tEthiopia’s needs 131 million face masks in the next four months, state-linked Fana Broadcasting Corporate report.
May 30: Cases pass 1,000 mark; total tests top 100,000
\tEthiopia’s confirmed cases passed the 1,000 mark after today’s tallies were released.
Health Minister Dr Lia Tadesse confirmed at the meeting that 67% of the country’s total confirmed cases are from the capital Addis Ababa.
Total confirmed cases = 731 (new cases = 30)
Total recoveries = 181
Total deaths = 6
Active cases = 544
\tFigures valid as of close of day May 27, 2020
\t
May 24: 193 cases in 5 days as tally hits 582
\tEthiopia has recorded back-to-back one-day spikes, record 61 new cases on Saturday and a further 81 on Sunday toppling the Saturday record.
Total confirmed cases = 582 (new cases = 88)
Total recoveries = 152 (new recoveries = 8)
Total deaths = 5
Active cases = 423
\tTrajectory of infections between May 20 – 24
\tMay 20: 389 (24 new cases)
May 21: 398 (9 new cases)
May 22: 399 (10 new cases)
May 22: 433 (34 new cases)
May 23: 494 (61 new cases)
May 24: 582 (88 new cases)
May 19: 365 cases with 60 new cases in three days
\tTotal confirmed cases = 365 (new cases between May 17 – 19 = 60)
Total recoveries = 120 (new recoveries = 8)
Active cases = 238
\tEthiopia’s case count spiked on Monday by 35 new cases (a daily record) whiles 14 new cases were recorded today.
Mutare: A local Old People's home located is struggling to make ends meet during the lockdown period as donor support has dried up.
Zororo Old People's Home in the oldest high-density suburb of Sakubva houses over 14 elderly people who rely on support from various donors across the city.
However, since the announcement of the country's lockdown by government to curb the spread of Covid-19, the home has been facing myriad challenges, chief among them dwindling food stocks and funds to procure medication for inmates.
Mutare Ward 1 Councillor Thomas Nyamupanedengu confirmed the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on the operations of the Old People's Home.
Normally, the home is supported by local donors but due to the lockdown, most businesses were affected,\" said the councillor.
Mr Wambua asked residents living downstream and along the River Turkwel to move to safer grounds to evade possible flash floods.
RELIEF FOOD
He said the national government had kicked off relief food distribution to flood victims.
\"Besides floods, the national and county governments should step up relief food distribution for county residents affected by Covid-19 containment directives,\" Mr Epuyo said.
HOUSES DESTROYED
Turkana Central National Government Constituency Development Fund Chairperson Ruth Kuya noted that besides relief food distribution, flood victims should be resettled by the national government.
While leading relief food distribution programme to residents whose houses were destroyed by flooded River Kawalase, Ms Kuya said many of the elderly people had heeded to Ministry of Health directive to stay at home because they are vulnerable to Covid-19.
The area is known for oil spills that have polluted the waters and left fish and other wildlife inedible.
The massive die-off was first reported in February when community people in Delta State complained of the schools of dead fish floating and littering their shores.
Samples of the fish were taken by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).
Idris Musa, head of NOSDRA, declared the die-off had nothing to do with the continual oil leakages from offshore platforms as claimed over the years by Amnesty International, the U.N. Environmental Program, the Fishnet Alliance, and dozens of other groups in and outside of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) this month said that the dead fishes floating and littering the Niger Delta coastline had nothing to do with its operations.
A Free State man, who was wanted by police for allegedly stabbing his wife and two sons to death, has been found dead.
Police were on the hunt for the man after the bodies of his wife, 37, and two sons, aged two and nine, were found in their home on 17 May.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Sam Makhele said, on 17 May, police were called to a house at Extension 3 in Zamdela, Sasolburg, where they found the bodies of the deceased lying in the bedroom.
Makhele said the man's body was found on Tuesday morning, hanging from a tree behind an industrial area in Sasolburg.
Police have opened an inquest docket, but are not suspecting any foul play with regard to the man's death.
The seditious libel case involving Sierra Leone’s former minister of social welfare and journalist – Dr Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, was adjourned today to Friday 12 June 2020, after prosecution witness who is the lead police investigator – Detective M.K. Alieu, was cross-examined by Blyden who is representing herself in court.
On Friday, 22nd May 2020, Dr Blyden was charged with seditious libel under Sections 33, 32 and 27 of the notorious Public Order Act No 46 of 1965, which successive governments of Sierra Leone have used to harass, intimidate and persecute those with whom they disagree, especially journalists.
According to Section 33 (1): “Any person who (a) does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do, any act with a seditious intention; or (b) utters any seditious words; or (c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any seditious publication; or (d) imports any seditious publication, unless he has no reason to believe it is seditious shall be guilty of an offence and liable for a first offence to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to a fine not exceeding one thousand leones or to both such imprisonment and fine, and for a subsequent offence shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding seven years, and every such publication shall be forfeited to the government.”
Section 32 (1) states: “Any person who publishes any false statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear or alarm, to the public or to disturb the public peace shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding three hundred Leones or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twelve months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.
Section 27 states: “Any person who maliciously publishes any defamatory matter shall be guilty of an offence called libel and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding seven hundred leones or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment.”
Nearly ten years after the UN called for a major clean-up of areas of the Niger Delta polluted by the oil giant Shell and other oil companies, decontamination work has begun on only 11% of planned sites while vast areas remain heavily contaminated, according to a new investigation by four NGOs published today.
Main findings
Amongst other things, the four NGO's 30-page report, 'No Clean-Up, No Justice', finds that:
*There are still communities in Ogoniland without access to clean water supplies;
*Health and environmental monitoring has not been carried out;
*There has been no public accounting for how $31m funding provided since 2018 has been spent;
*Eleven of 16 companies contracted for the clean-up are reported to have no registered expertise in oil pollution remediation or related areas;
*Highlights that \"emergency measures\" proposed by UNEP have not been properly implemented and that the billion-dollar clean-up project launched by the Nigerian government in 2016 has been ineffective.
Recommendations to Shell
Amnesty and the other NGOs are demanding a rapid clean-up, and in particular that Shell:
*Provides proper compensation to all communities affected by failed or delayed clean-ups of oil spills;
*Decommissions all aging and damaged pipelines commits to funding the clean-up of Ogoniland and the rest of the Niger Delta until completed.
*Ensure that Ogoni people can access their basic rights, including the right to safe drinking water;
*Develop and implements a strategy to address the root causes of oil pollution, while fully involving local communities;
*Strengthen HYPREP and ensures it is an independent, transparent agency without the involvement of Shell in oversight and management structures;
*And publish all information on the clean-up project and its progress.
Recommendations to European governments
And finally, the NGOs are also calling on European governments which are home to oil companies operating in the Niger Delta to:
*Make a fundamental shift to prioritise the clean-up of Ogoniland and the rest of the Niger Delta over the interests of companies;
*Increase engagement with and support for the Nigerian government to ensure effective implementation of the UN's recommendations, independent oversight of the oil industry and effective remedy for affected communities;
*And to establish strong international regulations for corporate liability abroad - such as an EU law for mandatory Human Rights due diligence and a binding UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights.
Citing a 'continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts,' Amnesty International has shut its India operations, sparking a debate about civil liberties in the [...]
Analysis - The unsolved fatal shooting of the celebrated Oromo resistance singer has ruptured Ethiopia's brittle political system. Can talks on a national scale avert a bad-to-worse outcome for the multiethnic nation?
BY NHAU MANGIRAZI CHIKANGWE Clinic has been shut down, while Karoi District Hospital mortuary attendant and two guards went into self-isolation following the death of a local businessperson who tested positive to COVID-19 on Wednesday last week. Amos Gava, who fell sick on Sunday last week, was pronounced dead on arrival at a local private surgery. The two guards who assisted the mortuary attendant and the private doctor who attended to the deceased will be tested while in self-isolation, a health official said. Hurungwe district medical officer Frackson Masiye confirmed the death. “I can confirm that Hurungwe has registered a positive COVID-19 case. The private doctor who attended to him will be tested and be in isolation under World Health Organisation guidelines. Furthermore, we will be doing contact tracing of all those who had close contact with the deceased,” he said. The local clinic, deceased’s house and his business premises were all fumigated, the medical officer said. So far, 26 members of the community who confirmed contact with Gava were tested, but the swabs for the polymerase chain reaction tests are yet to be taken to Harare for testing. Nickson Kondo, the deceased’s neighbour, said they were yet to know their fate since health officials said they did not have fuel to get the swabs to Harare. “The late Gava’s relatives funded the transport for his swab to be taken to Harare for testing. Unfortunately, we do not know when our results will be out. We helped him as he was in pain and even when we approached a local surgery, the doctor had no protective clothing when he declared him dead,” Kondo said. Some residents have called for more action and campaigns in communities. “Health ministry officials should have fumigated ward 3 as this is a small community. They have not made any efforts to test members of Zion Christian Church where Gava went seeking help for vomiting (acid reflux) as it was his underlying health challenge since childhood. ”We are sitting on a health time bomb as the ministry has no resources,” Bernard Mudare a community member said.
Guinea's main oppositon party published Friday a list of 46 people, aged between 3 and 70 years, killed during the repression of demonstrations after the October 18 election, officially won by the incumbent Alpha Condé.
Condé was declared re-elected on October 24 by the Electoral Commission for a controversial third term with 59.5% of the vote, but three of his opponents, including opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, are contesting the results before the Constitutional Court, whose decision is expected on Saturday.
Diallo's party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), denounced in a statement a \"wave of terror\" orchestrated by the government between October 19 and November 3.
\"The provisional toll of this repression is 46 dead, nearly 200 wounded by gunfire, about a hundred arrests and extensive material damage,\" according to the UFDG.
The opposition has so far reported a death toll of at least 27, while for the government, the post-election violence resulted in 21 deaths, including members of the security forces.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Africa Officer Ida Sawyer on Twitter on October 24 accused Guinean security forces of killing \"at least 8 people, including 3 children.
Amnesty International for its part accused the same security forces of firing live ammunition at demonstrators, without giving a detailed account.
The Ministries of Security and Territorial Administration did not immediately respond to the multiple requests for a reaction from the AFP to the UFDG document.
This document includes a list of names, usually with age, profession, circumstances of death, contacts of a relative, and photos showing these people, dead or alive. In about fifteen cases, these are photos of bodies showing traces of violence.
Most of the presumed victims are young men and women between 15 and 30 years old: motorcycle cab drivers, mechanics, students...
The youngest are a boy and a girl of 3 years old, Mamadou Midiaou Diallo and Mariatou Bah, and the oldest Mamouna Camara, a housewife of 70 years old.
The UFDG also states that \"the overwhelming majority of the victims (...) belong to the same ethnic group as the opposition leader,\" in a country where community affiliations play an important role in elections.
The update comes weeks after Cain’s death from the virus.
[GroundUp] An unfinished care home for elderly people in North West Province funded by the National Lotteries Commission. The photo was taken at the end of May.
#EndSARSNow: NGO SAYS JUSTICE \"NEEDS TO BE SERVED\" IN NIGERIA
The anti-police brutality movement #EndSARSNow that has seen Nigerian youth take to the streets over the last two weeks, erupted Tuesday evening when armed security forces opened fire on a group of demonstrators in Lekki, Lagos city.
The exact number of resulting wounded and fatalities is still unconfirmed.
Amnesty International is currently taking steps to get official figures - according to Director in Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, who gives insight into the incident based on the human rights organisation's credible sources on the ground.
Osai Ojigho : The eyewitness accounts that we received last night and the views that we got and various other sources that were shared point to the fact that they were military officers. So it is important that they actually investigate this and find out what happened. What were they doing there? Were they there to protect the protesters? Were they there to stop something from happening? Were they given orders to shoot at unarmed people? It would be important for the authorities to give that information today. But for us where we sit, people have died, people have been injured and justice needs to be served.
In order to attain a just conclusion to these events, the human rights lawyer outlines the necessary legal avenues to take.
Osai Ojigho : So the first thing is the individual culpability of officers and commanders who have actually perpetrated these acts of violence against protesters and the populace. because it is not only protesters who have been affected. Earlier on in the protests, there were also individuals who were not part of the protesters who were hit by stray bullets. That is 1.
The second is Nigeria needs to recognise that it has an international obligation under international human rights law to ensure that the safety and security of people within its territory are protected.
President Muhammadu Buhari had previously issued a statement last week denouncing excessive force used by the police - and also acknowledged officers in the country who are upright. Many now speculate on his stance since Tuesday's shootings and many others question the silence from other Africa leaders.
Osai Ojigho : It would be good to see the political leadership in the African Union and ECOWAS actually come out to say, \"Nigeria, we are seeing what is happening. You need to preach nonviolence.\" This is not a time to be silent.
Not at all silent and still raising their voices - undeterred by the very same police brutality they seek to end in the country, are Nigerian youth and the NGO Director applauds their resilience.
Osai Ojigho : The events of the last two weeks, on the one hand, have been inspiring to see people come out to express themselves. The overwhelming support they've received all over the world has been an eye-opener and it was a positive feeling - you know, that Nigerians are coming out and they are speaking truth to power.
by PublicSource Reporters The Allegheny County Health Department [ACHD] announced 180 new COVID-19 infections on Friday, marking another day of triple-digit daily increases in reported cases. Allegheny County’s total number of COVID-19 infections now stands at 4,547, and its newest cases are among patients ranging in age from 2 to 91 years old. The median Continued
The post Allegheny County reports 180 new COVID infections Friday; statewide eviction ban extended to Aug. 31 appeared first on New Pittsburgh Courier.
The woman who died on Sunday night after she was struck down by a motor car as she attempted to cross the Chateau Margot, East Coast Demerara Public Road has been identified as a mother of three.
Zalima Subrattie called Patsy, 61, had been living in Venezuela and was temporarily residing at Pigeon Island Squatting Area, East Coast Demerara.
The motor car bearing licence number PKK 9991 and driven by a special constable was proceeding east along the northern lane on the northern carriageway way on the Chateau Margot Public Road.
The driver told police that he was changing lanes in order to overtake a vehicle when he noticed Subrattie step off the median.
“He then tried to swerve left to avoid a collision but the right side front of his vehicle collided with her causing her to fall on to the road surface where she received injuries about her body,” the police report said.
