Millions of people across Southern African states are facing hunger over the lockdown regimes introduced by the governments to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, a prominent international human rights watchdog said on Friday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2020) Millions of people across Southern African states are facing hunger over the lockdown regimes introduced by the governments to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, a prominent international human rights watchdog said on Friday.
"With inequality and unemployment so high across Southern Africa, the majority of people live hand to mouth - meaning that they cannot afford to remain in lockdown for a week, let alone for a month, because they have no financial means of stockpiling. Without support from the government, the lockdown could become a matter of life and death for those living in poverty," Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's director for East and Southern Africa, said, as quoted in the press release.
The watchdog calls on the governments of regional states to take urgent social protection measures and provide people with food in order to prevent violations of the lockdown regimes and further instability since the majority of the local population is deprived of the possibility of earning money.
"Currently, many are being forced to choose between complying with lockdown measures and going hungry, or stepping out to access food and being penalized for it," Muchena added.
The watchdog notes that the governments of such states as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola have deployed police and servicemen to the streets to monitor the movement of people and ensure they comply with the lockdown measures. Numerous incidents have been reported about the disproportionate use of force and violence in relation to those seen on the streets.
According to the latest data of the World Health Organization, the number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus disease in Africa has exceeded 17,000, and the death toll has reached around 900. At the same time, the majority of cases have been registered in northern Africa, where over 7,500 people have been infected with the virus.
