Amnesty calls for “urgent” measures to combat inequality and discrimination in the Americas

Amnesty International has called on the States of the countries of the Americas to take “urgent” measures to combat inequality and discrimination and ensure the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights in the region.

They must also ensure the protection of refugees and migrants, who face high levels of violence and discrimination based on their gender, race or nationality, among other factors, the organization stresses in an open letter sent to the heads of state attending the 52nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS).

“The main theme of the OAS General Assembly is ‘Together Against Inequality and Discrimination,’ but it is time for States to move from words to urgent action to address the systemic failures that prevent the full realization of human rights for all people in the region,” said Amnesty International’s Director for the Americas, Erika Guevara Rosas. To this end, she considers necessary “comprehensive action to dismantle inequality, racism and discrimination”.

Amnesty recalls that it has already documented how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated deep structural inequalities in the Americas, rooted in economic, racial and gender factors. “Many people in the region, including women, indigenous people and people of African descent, suffered disproportionate effects on their right to life, health, social protection, an adequate standard of living and work,” the organization said.

Furthermore, it considers that the emergency measures adopted by States to address the pandemic have not been sufficient to fulfill their duty to eradicate discrimination and actively promote substantive equality in the enjoyment of human rights, especially economic and social rights.

It notes on the other hand “structural problems” in the health systems of the Americas in terms of free and universal access, sufficiency of budgetary and human resources, which means that the health systems do not meet the requirements of accessibility, availability, quality and cultural relevance established by the right to health.

Almost all countries in the region spend less than 6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on public health, which is the standard set by the Pan American Health Organization to achieve universal health coverage.

The States of the Americas must, at a minimum, ensure that public spending on health is at least 6 percent of GDP as established by PAHO. To achieve this, they should organize their fiscal policy, both in terms of tax collection and spending, in order to progressively seek to significantly reduce discrimination and inequality.

The Americas continues to host several of the world’s largest cross-border movements of people. The human rights crisis in Venezuela has forced more than 6.8 million people to flee the country in search of international protection, Amnesty recalls.

Meanwhile, the political and humanitarian crisis in Haiti has caused the movement of thousands of people trapped at different borders in the region. Also, as a result of the widespread violence, coupled with natural disasters associated with climate change in Central America, tens of thousands of people from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are making their way to the north of the continent.

For refugee and migrant women, their migration status is a risk factor that increases their vulnerability, exposing them to gender-based violence along the migration route or in the cities where they decide to stay. A recent Amnesty International investigation revealed that the numbers of gender-based violence against Venezuelan refugee women in Colombia and Peru have increased alarmingly in recent years.

In the case of Haiti, Amnesty International has concluded that mass or collective expulsions of Haitian asylum seekers by U.S. authorities under Title 42 are part of a practice of detention, exclusion and deterrence, based on systemic discrimination against people of African descent. The treatment of Haitian individuals by U.S. authorities constitutes race-based torture under international human rights law.