OHCHR / COVID-19 PRISONS SYRIA EGYPT

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A spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), reported that following High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s call for governments to reduce overcrowding in prisons to prevent “catastrophic rates” of COVID-19 infection, “a number of countries have indeed been taking action on this front.” OHCHR
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STORY: OHCHR /COVID-19 SYRIA EGYPT
TRT: 03:23
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS

DATELINE: 3 APRIL 2020 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

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FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, Palais Wilson

3 APRIL 2020 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“After the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet last week urged governments to reduce overcrowding in prisons in order to prevent catastrophic rates of COVID-19 infection, we are encouraged to note that a number of countries have indeed been taking action on this front. Iran for example has increased the number it is releasing, at least on a temporary basis, to around 100,000 prisoners – some 40 percent of the entire prison population in the country. Yesterday, Indonesia announced it would be releasing some 30,000 prisoners convicted of minor crimes, including drug use, and we understand Turkey is similarly considering to release a large number of inmates. Other countries have also been announcing prisoner releases of varying numbers, including of specific at-risk groups such as pregnant women, people with disabilities, elderly prisoners, those who are sick, minor and low-risk prisoners, people nearing the end of their sentences and others who can safely be reintegrated into society. We urge States to release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners, and those detained for critical, dissenting views. And we stress that with respect to people fairly convicted of serious crimes recognized under international law, or prisoners who might pose serious risk to others, such people should only be exceptionally considered for temporary release from custody during the course of the pandemic. And we continue to urge all countries to review who is being held and to take measures as soon as possible to ensure the physical distancing necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19 that the distancing actually becomes feasible within the prisons.”

FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

3. Wide shot, Palais Wilson

3 APRIL 2020 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The situation in all prisons and makeshift detention facilities in Syria is alarming -- and particularly so in the overcrowded central prisons, and in the detention, facilities run by the four Government security branches, and in the Sednaya military prison. Even before the onset of COVID-19, we have received a significant number of reports of deaths in the facilities run by the four security branches and in Sednaya, including as a result of torture and denial of medical care. Vulnerable groups in Syria include elderly people, women and children, and many people with underlying health conditions, some of them directly as a result of the ill-treatment and neglect they have experienced while in detention.”

FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

5. Wide shot, Palais Wilson

3 APRIL 2020 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“In Egypt, among those we recommend should also be released are administrative detainees and those who are arbitrarily detained due to their political or human rights work. We also call for the release of those in particularly vulnerable situations due to their age, for example children and older people in particular, and due to serious underlying medical conditions. Egypt’s prisons and detention facilities are often overcrowded, unsanitary, and suffer from a lack of resources. Detainees are routinely denied access to adequate medical care and treatment.”

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Storyline

A spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), today (3 Mar) reported that following High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s call for governments to reduce overcrowding in prisons to prevent “catastrophic rates” of COVID-19 infection, “a number of countries have indeed been taking action on this front.”

The spokesperson, Rupert Colville said, “Iran for example has increased the number it is releasing, at least on a temporary basis, to around 100,000 prisoners – some 40 percent of the entire prison population in the country,” and Indonesia has announced “it would be releasing some 30,000 prisoners convicted of minor crimes, including drug use,” while Turkey is “considering to release a large number of inmates.”

Other countries, he said, “have also been announcing prisoner releases of varying numbers, including of specific at-risk groups such as pregnant women, people with disabilities, elderly prisoners, those who are sick, minor and low-risk prisoners, people nearing the end of their sentences and others who can safely be reintegrated into society.”

Colville urged countries “to release every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners, and those detained for critical, dissenting views. And we stress that with respect to people fairly convicted of serious crimes recognized under international law, or prisoners who might pose serious risk to others, such people should only be exceptionally considered for temporary release from custody during the course of the pandemic.”

He also urged countries “to review who is being held and to take measures as soon as possible to ensure the physical distancing necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19 that the distancing actually becomes feasible within the prisons.”

In Syria, the spokesperson said the situation in all prisons and makeshift detention facilities “is alarming -- and particularly so in the overcrowded central prisons, and in the detention, facilities run by the four Government security branches, and in the Sednaya military prison.”

He said, “vulnerable groups in Syria include elderly people, women and children, and many people with underlying health conditions, some of them directly as a result of the ill-treatment and neglect they have experienced while in detention.”

In Egypt, Colville said, “administrative detainees and those who are arbitrarily detained due to their political or human rights work” should also be released.

He also called for the release “of those in particularly vulnerable situations due to their age, for example children and older people in particular, and due to serious underlying medical conditions.”

The spokesperson said, “Egypt’s prisons and detention facilities are often overcrowded, unsanitary, and suffer from a lack of resources. Detainees are routinely denied access to adequate medical care and treatment.”

According to OHCHR, people deprived of their liberty, including in prisons, pre-trial detention, immigration detention, institutions, and other places of detention are at heightened risk of infection in the case of an outbreak. There is a high risk of contamination and social distancing difficult to achieve. Their situation should be specifically addressed in crisis planning and response.

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