‘Tightening their stranglehold’: COVID-19 crackdown in MENA

Amnesty International calls 2020 a ‘catastrophic year’ for the already marginalised in the Middle East and North Africa.

The coronavirus pandemic has amplified risks for the most vulnerable in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), according to a new report by Amnesty International. Already existing inequalities and discrimination have left some people – including prisoners, refugees, migrants and minorities – disproportionately affected by the pandemic, said the report by the human rights watchdog published on Wednesday. In an example of institutionalised discrimination, Israeli authorities did not provide COVID-19 vaccinations to five million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip when Israel’s vaccination drive began in December 2020.