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.

‘No Clean Up, No Justice’, published by Amnesty International, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Friends of the Earth Europe, and Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands investigates to what extent Nigeria’s government and the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell have implemented UNEP’s recommendations, why progress has been slow and why the clean-up operations have so far failed to deliver.

This report examines the devastating impact that the conflict in Northeast Nigeria has had on children. Boko Haram has carried out widespread abductions of girls and boys and then subjected children in captivity to further atrocities; it has also wreaked havoc on communities across the region, through pillaging and attacks on civilians and schools. Rather than protecting children fleeing Boko Haram areas, the Nigerian military has often unlawfully detained them for months or years and subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment. It has also failed to ensure displaced children have access to an adequate education.

The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit of the Nigeria police tasked with fighting violent crimes such as robbery and kidnapping, continues to commit torture and other human rights violations while discharging their law enforcement duties. The report documents cases of extortion, torture and ill treatment by SARS between January 2017 and May 2020. It reveals a pattern of abuse of power by SARS officers and the consistent failure by the Nigerian authorities to bring perpetrators to justice. It highlights the deficiencies in Nigerian police accountability that contribute to, and exacerbate, these violations.