Prisons and Detention

States have an obligation to ensure the safety and health of detained individuals under their responsibility. The coronavirus is compounding the already critical situation of all people in prison and other places of detention, with a lack of adequate healthcare and chronic overcrowding in many countries making protective measures impossible. Steps to release people must be urgently adopted, including vulnerable populations such as older and/or ill persons. Jailed human rights defenders should be immediately released.

Amnesty International

• 22 April 2020 Action to protect detainees against COVID in Africa CAMPAIGN

Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT)

• 26 March 2020 information hub on Covid-19 and deprivation of liberty- online TRACKER. This hub collects and organises information relating to deprivation of liberty in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic from online sources.

• 8 April 2020 Monitoring deprivation of liberty in times of Covid-19, insights from webinar series
• 20 March 2020 Solidarity in times of confinement

 Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l’Homme

• 9 April 2020 COVID-19 : l’urgence est aussi d’éviter l’hécatombe dans les prisons en République du Congo!

CIHRS Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies

• 5 May 2020 Egypt At the risk of public health, prisoners of conscience continue to be added to Egypt’s overcrowded prisons
• 4 May 2020 Egypt Illegally imprisoned without trial, Shady Habash’s death underscores the urgency of releasing pretrial detainees
• 28 April 2020 Egypt Free expression regarded by government as a greater threat to public safety than murder or violence, as demonstrated by presidential pardons and conditional releases
• 17 April 2020 Libya: After the first reported death from Covid-19 Failure to release detainees amounts to a death sentence
• 26 March 2020 Egypt: Overcrowded prisons will become epicenters of coronavirus outbreak unless some detainees immediately released
• 26 March 2020 Syria: Fears of a COVID-19 Pandemic in Detention Centers

FIACAT 

• Les prisons et le coronavirus : Formation en ligne Ce module a été développé en partenariat entre Synergies Coopération et la FIACAT afin de diffuser des informations sur la situation des prisons au temps du coronavirus et de sensibiliser les acteurs du milieu carcéral.
• 02 April 2020 Joint Statement: Faced with the spreading of COVID-19, take urgent and immediate measures to protect the rights of detainees in Africa

FIDH

• 22 April 2020 Iran: Free female prisoners of conscience as coronavirus overtakes prisons
• 17 April 2020 On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Civil Society Calls for Urgent Release of Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees in Israeli Prisons
• 15 April 2020 Thailand – COVID-19: Release prisoners, ensure the health and safety of all those in detention facilities
• 7 April 2020 COVID-19: States bear direct responsibility for the health of individuals in their custody

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)

• 30 March 2020 Turkey: ICJ urges extension of alternatives to detention for prison population amid COVID-19 crisis
• 24 March 2020 COVID-19: urgent measures must be taken by MENA governments to protect the prison population

OMCT, World Organisation Against Torture

• BUILDING OUR RESPONSE ON COVID-19 AND DETENTION Guidance brief to the SOS-Torture Network and partner organisations
• 6 April 2020 Philippines: Immediately release Filipino political prisoners and end detention and ill-treatment of curfew violators
• 1 April 2020 India: Joint statement – Arbitrarily detained Kashmiri prisoners must be freed
• 31 March 2020  Turkey: Grant early release from overcrowded prisons without discrimination 
• 26 March 2020 Covid-19 and prisons in Africa: the risks of contamination are enormous
• 20 March 2020 Honduras: Guapinol: urge revocar prisión preventiva de defensores del agua frente a riesgos por COVID-19
• 1 March 2020 COVID-19: Urgent measures must be taken by MENA governments to protect the prison population

Penal Reform International

• 16 March 2020 Coronavirus: Healthcare and human rights of people in prison

Protection International 

• 15 April 2020 [Joint Statement] 14 organisations urge Thai department of corrections to release prisoners
• 24 March 2020 [Joint statement] The spread of COVID-19 requires urgent and immediate measures to be taken to protect the rights of detainees in Africa