Ellinor Guttorm Utsi is an Indigenous Sámi woman, and a passionate leader fighting to protect her community’s ancient reindeer-herding way of life in northern Norway. As a spokesperson, she speaks out for her family and her people who have followed seasonal migration routes across the Arctic for generations. They rely on summer grazing lands in Čorgaš, lands now under urgent threat.

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.

Health and essential workers have played an extraordinary role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Across countries, they have put their health and wellbeing at risk, often in very difficult circumstances and with very little support, to ensure that people are able to access the essential services they need. They have faced reprisals from the authorities and their employers for raising safety concerns, and in some cases have been subject to violence and stigma from members of the public. This report makes concrete recommendations for what governments across the world need to do to comply with their human rights obligations and adequately protect the rights of health and essential workers.