VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS In September, the government and coalition parties put forward a cross-party agreement to introduce consent-based rape legislation. Parliament passed the proposed bill into law on 17 December.2 In March, the national hotline “Live without violence” saw a doubling of requests for safe spaces after the COVID-19 lockdown. In April, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Interior responded by creating 55 emergency shelter places.
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX (LGBTI) PEOPLE Despite specific recommendations from the CESCR in 2019, the authorities failed to protect the rights of children with variations in sex characteristics. Infants and children continued to be at risk of non-emergency, invasive and irreversible genital surgery or hormone treatment.
REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS In January, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture called on the government to take steps to improve the conditions at Ellebæk, a detention centre where migrants, asylum-seekers and rejected asylum-seekers are held based on Denmark’s immigration laws. At the end of the year, no substantial improvements had been made.
CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY In January, the government committed to respond to the CESCR 2019 recommendation that Denmark adopt a legal framework requiring business entities to exercise human rights due diligence in their operations. The CESCR also recommended that businesses be held liable for human rights violations and that victims be enabled to seek remedies. By year’s end, the government had yet to take steps to introduce the required legal framework. 1. Denmark: Human rights must be ensured for all (EUR 18/3229/2020)
Amnesty International Report 2020/21
2. Denmark: First reading of “sex without consent is rape” bill brings historic moment for women’s rights closer (Press release, 20 November)
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Dominican Republic Head of state and government: Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona (replaced Danilo Medina in August) The authorities carried out an estimated 85,000 detentions between 20 March and 30 June, for alleged non-compliance with the evening curfew. Abortion remained criminalized in all circumstances. The authorities failed to pass the comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation demanded by civil society for years.
ARBITRARY DETENTION In March, the authorities declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew to try to contain the spread of COVID-19. According to data published daily on Twitter by the National Police, law enforcement carried out an estimated 85,000 detentions between 20 March and 30 June for alleged noncompliance with the evening curfew. The authorities did not respond to requests for information about the conditions in which people were held, including whether people were physically distanced in detention or had access to a lawyer and other due process guarantees. Video evidence suggested that the police used detention as a first rather than last resort to enforce lockdowns and routinely rounded up groups of people in the back of police vans, without taking any COVID-19 preventive measures like physical distancing or mask wearing. Videos also showed the authorities stopping or detaining people on their way to get food or other basic items, despite evidence from previous public health emergencies that coercive enforcement, including criminalization, can be
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