was charged with breaching confidentiality and sentenced to six months in prison, including five months suspended and a fine. He was released on 8 July. On 8 July, Adolphe Houssou, a spokesperson for health sector unions, publicly criticized the government for not doing enough to protect health workers from COVID-19. On 25 July, he fled the country in fear of reprisals after police officers went to the Health Ministry asking for his address.
photographed her face and genitals, and held her in a cell with male detainees. She was released without charge the next day.
BOLIVIA Plurinational State of Bolivia Head of state and government: Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (replaced Jeanine Áñez Chávez in November)
In March, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued its concluding observations on Benin’s periodic review. It raised concerns about widespread attacks against people with albinism; killings of so-called “witch children”; and local customs which deprived women of their inheritance and property rights. A government civil service recruitment competition excluded people with disabilities.
The social, economic, political and human rights crisis in Bolivia which began in the aftermath of the 20 October 2019 elections continued in 2020. The crisis was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which reached very worrying dimensions in the country, disproportionately affecting those in vulnerable situations. Those defending human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, journalists and political opponents, or those perceived as such, continued to be threatened and harassed.
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
BACKGROUND
The widespread use of violence and sexual harassment against women and girls continued. In May, Angela Kpeidja, a journalist for a national television station, publicly denounced sexual harassment and other abuses in her workplace. The authorities suspended the station's deputy editor-in-chief.
On 13 August, after two postponements due to public health considerations relating to COVID-19, the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, the interim government and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal agreed that a general election should be held on 18 October 2020. On 23 July, after the second postponement was announced, demonstrations, including roadblocks, intensified amid complaints by the authorities and the general population that the blockades were preventing key supplies for dealing with COVID-19 from reaching various communities that needed them. There were also reports of violence by some protesters and between groups of protesters, with interventions by the security forces. Early on 14 August, there were reports of an attack with explosives on the office of the Bolivian Union of Workers (COB) in La Paz. The COB had played a key role in the demonstrations. Bolivia reported its first cases of COVID-19 in March 2020 and on 12 March the acting President declared the situation a national emergency. Supreme decrees and
DISCRIMINATION
RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX (LGBTI) PEOPLE In Cotonou in April, unknown assailants beat a transgender woman unconscious. She regained consciousness in Godomey police station, where officers beat, insulted and threatened her. They stripped her naked, photographed her and sent her home without her clothes after five days in detention. In July, a transgender woman was attacked by a mob who stripped her and beat her as they chased her through the streets. Later that night, police arrested her at her home for no legitimate reason, took her to the Sodohomè police station in Zou department,
Amnesty International Report 2020/21
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