text:
From Brazil to Kosovo to the Philippines, confined citizens protest from their windows · Global Voices
José Carpintero Molina

Quarantined Brazilians protest from their houses during President Jair Bolsonaro's televised address on March 24. Photo: Screencap from video by Deutsche Welle/YouTube.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
There is a very good chance that you're in lockdown as you read this. One in every three people on earth is under some sort of social distancing order as governments scramble to slow the spread of COVID-19, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives since the novel coronavirus was first detected in China in December 2019.
Lockdowns have been watched vigilantly by rights groups, who are urging governments to tread carefully when restricting civil liberties in these exceptional circumstances. But lockdowns do present a paradox for accountability on that very matter: How can citizens ensure officials don't misuse their new emergency powers when public protests present an immediate danger to one other?
Fortunately, people have found alternatives. From Kosovo to Spain, from Brazil to the Philippines, pot-banging from balconies and windows emerges as a COVID-safe way to capture the attention of politicians.
Of course, such demonstrations are nothing new. As documented by historian Emmanuel Fureix, this type of protest was first seen in France in 1830. Back then, when the Republicans opposing the Louise-Philippe monarchy used kitchenware to make noise as a sign of protest, it was called charivari.
This method of resistance later reached other parts of the world. In 1961, during the Algerian war of independence one protest became known as “the night of the pots.” Other popular protests of this kind took place in Chile in 1971, during the Allende administration, in Quebec during the 2012 student protests, and in Turkey, during the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Today it is particularly popular in Latin America, where it's known as cacelorazo, and panelaço in Brazil.
In Kosovo, citizens banged pots and pans from the balconies and windows every night for a week to show discontent with the current political situation — a power struggle in the ruling coalition over the emergency measures.
The protests did not prevent the prime minister from losing a no-confidence motion on March 25, making Kosovo's government the first in the world to fall in relation to the coronavirus crisis.
NEWS – #Kosovo television broadcast live protest of people from balconies, as the voting starts to bring the government down. pic.twitter.com/8tnAuDtJry
— Stefan in Kosovo (@StefanInKosovo) March 25, 2020
With the Kosovo government ousted, the decision to either form a new government or dissolve the country's parliament and call for early elections falls to President Hashim Thaçi, the main beneficiary of the prime minister's sacking. However, holding elections in the midst of a pandemic seems impossible, leaving various important issues up in the air:
Motion passed, government collapsed, exposed to extreme uncertainty, quarantined, battling covid19, bracing for an agreement between Kosovo & Serbia. A long list of issues tormenting an average citizen of #Kosovo.
— Donika Emini (@donikaemini) March 25, 2020
On March 19, 2020, as the King of Spain, Felipe I, gave a nationally broadcasted speech asking for unity in confronting COVID-19, people went to their windows and balconies to demand that his father, Juan Carlos I, donate to the public health system the 100 million euros he allegedly has in a Swiss bank account, courtesy the King of Saudi Arabia.
Spain: massive banging of pots and pans protest as the King starts a TV address to the nation. People in lockdown come out to their balconies to reject the Crown's corruption Solo puedo decir #NiVirusNiCorona.#Cacerolada pic.twitter.com/f4hTbz8a2Z#CoronaCiao
— Jorge Martin (@marxistJorge) March 18, 2020
Just a few days later, a similar protest was held against Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his government, as a criticism of their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic:
Cacerolada de hace un rato. Pedro Sánchez DIMISIÓN, en Capitán Haya, Madrid. pic.twitter.com/FqD80On5sJ
— Alfredo Martínez (@alfmartinx) March 21, 2020
Banging pots and pans for a while. Pedro Sanchez RESIGNATION, in Capitán Haya, Madrid.
On April 1, right-wing and far-right again called on social media under the hashtag #cacerolada21h for a protest from the balconies against the government's handling of the COVID crisis. However, this call ended up having little or no success in some parts of Spain.
Since March 17, pots and pans have been echoing from Brazilian households at around 8:30 p.m. every night, in protest over how President Jair Bolsonaro is handling policies to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in a country with 200 million people:
“Bolsonaro out!” says downtown São Paulo. pic.twitter.com/KTS2SoYO71
— Euan Marshall (@euanmarshall) March 18, 2020
The first night of protests actually took place a day before the original date that had been planned via social media channels. In cities spanning from the north to the south of the expansive country — even in neighborhoods that used to bang those same kitchen utensils asking for the impeachment of left-leaning president Dilma Rousseff four years prior — people shouted, “Get out, Bolsonaro!”
The following evening, March 18, only half an hour after the protests began, Bolsonaro tried to turn this act of resistance on its head by calling for people to bang pots and pans in support of his government:
- O jornal Hoje (TV Globo) e Veja on line, divulgam, de forma ostensiva, PANELAÇO hoje às 20h30 contra o Presidente Jair Bolsonaro.
– Mas a mesma imprensa, que se diz imparcial, NÃO DIVULGA outro PANELAÇO, às 21h A FAVOR DO GOVERNO JAIR BOLSONARO.
— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) March 18, 2020
- The Today News (TV Globo) and Veja [magazine] ostensively publicize POTS AND PANS PROTEST tonight at 20h30 against President Jair Bolsonaro.
– But the same press, who claim to be impartial, DOT NOT PUBLICIZE another POTS AND PANS PROTEST, at 21h IN SUPPORT OF JAIR BOLSONARO’S GOVERNMENT.
The Brazilian president has been downplaying the effects of the pandemic, calling COVID-19 “a little flu” and labeling media coverage and social isolation measures adopted by state governors as “hysteric”. In several states, roads have been blocked, interstate buses have been suspended, events canceled and schools closed.
Bolsonaro has given three televised addresses to the nation since World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. His messages have been described as confusing and erratic, at times directly criticizing state governors and at others calling for “union.”
Over the past two weeks, the Brazilian president has shifted from calling for schools and commerce to be reopened, to defending “vertical isolation” — the kind imposed only to people in high-risk groups — and, like US President Donald Trump, advocating for ample use of chloroquine against COVID-19, despite the lack of enough scientific evidence of its efficacy.
Surrounded by aides and cameras, Bolsonaro has also gone several times on walkabouts around the capital Brasília, speaking to and shaking hands with supporters. On his latest excursion on April 10, he declared: “No one will curb my right to come and go.”
Allies and leaders of the National Congress have criticized him for going against the recommendations of the WHO.
Kadamay, an urban poor group in the Philippines, organized noise barrage protest actions to highlight the slow delivery of food assistance from the government. The lockdown order it was under, though aimed at containing the COVID-19 outbreak, also disrupted the livelihood of street vendors and other workers from the informal sector:
The lack of a clear plan on how to extend assistance to poor households prompted Kadamay to organize the protest, which involved the banging of empty kaldero (pots) in houses. The Twitter hashtag #ProtestFromHome trended on March 22, after the campaign gained online support in the country. The police responded by accusing Kadamay of being anti-Filipino.
The protest also asked that the government conduct mass testing for COVID-19 and prioritize the sending of relief to affected communities.
In Argentina, the sound of kitchenware was also heard in protests over the increase in violence against women during quarantine. Thousands of women were involved in these protests, which also called for the lowering of politicians’ wages:
Este lunes por la noche, se escuchó un cacerolazo en diferentes barrios de Buenos Aires. Bajo la consigna #Ruidazo, se pidió la reducción de los salarios del sector político en medio de la pandemia del coronavirus pic.twitter.com/RpQQ24oyYp
— CNN Argentina (@CNNArgentina) March 31, 2020
This Monday night, a cacerolazo was heard in different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. Under the hashtag #Ruidazo, calls were made to reduce wages in the political sector amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Beating pots and pans was also the method that many Uruguayans used to call for social protection measures for the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis, though others did attempt to counteract it by playing the national anthem and applauding:
Con himno y tutti #SuenaUruguay #uruguay #montevideo #cacerolazo pic.twitter.com/tLcMhbcytC
— Hernis (@hernisuy) March 26, 2020
With hymn and tutti #SuenaUruguay #uruguay #montevideo #cacerolazo
Just as global citizens are bound together in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems that at present, when street protests are impossible, they are also united by banging pots and pans.

author: José Carpintero Molina


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Ghost cities in a COVID-19 world · Global Voices
Global Voices

Prague's Old Town Square, devoid of tourists amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Screencap of video by Lukas/Youtube.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
We often associate the sight of an empty city with science fiction.
Movies such as “The Omega Man” (1971), “I am Legend” (2007), and many others come to mind. They all feature memorable shots of their protagonists walking through deserted streets in post-apocalyptic cities whose bustling life had been decimated by a pandemic, a zombie apocalypse, or an alien invasion.
But such scenes are now a reality in several parts of the world, as humanity desperately tries to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. One in every three people in the world are, right now, under some sort of lockdown.
With a community of writers and translators spanning over 100 countries, Global Voices has compiled a list of videos showing emptied cities from around the globe.
With 854 cases of COVID-19 confirmed, and 38 deaths by the disease, North Macedonia has imposed a nationwide lockdown and a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays, as well as a full curfew on weekends.
This video by Bube Domazetovshows a deserted center of the capital Skopje. It was recorded on March 28.
Filip Stojanovski, Global Voices’ regional editor for Central and Eastern Europe, commented:
The only time when you can see the streets of Skopje without a lot of people is during summer heat waves or the holiday season. The video feels unreal, almost as if the footage is artificial, like looking at a CGI 3D architectural model of the place.
The capital of the Czech Republic is one of the most visited cities in Europe — it receives an average of 8 million tourists a year, over six times its resident population.
The country has been under lockdown since March 16, with only grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, and take-away restaurants allowed to operate. Over 5,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, and over 143 people have died by April 13.
Filip Noubel, Global Voices’ managing editor, a Czech native and long-time Prague resident, said:
Seeing those historical landmarks free of crowds feels both unreal and liberating, as the city definitely suffers from over-tourism. Suddenly, the city is returned to us, the residents, and we can't stop taking pictures of a deserted Charles Bridge, an empty Old Town Square.
This video by vlogger Lukas recorded on March 22 shows an empty Prague.
One of the city's main football clubs, the Olympique de Marseille, plays its anthem, as sung by the fans, in the stadium's loudspeakers at 8 p.m., every night.
“It's very eerie,” says Claire Ulrich, who translates to Global Voices’ French version.
More than 130,000 cases have been confirmed in France, including over 1,700 in the province Alpes-Côte d'Azur where Marseille is located.
Here's a tweet by the club:
? ??? ??????? ? ??? ??????? ?
Votre voix résonne chaque soir à 20h à l’@orangevelodrome pour soutenir nos héros du quotidien ??
Le #cOMbatquotidien continue ⚔ pic.twitter.com/xGobsT4jQA
— Olympique de Marseille (@OM_Officiel) April 4, 2020
Tweet: Your voice resounds every evening at 8 p.m. at Orange Velodrome [stadium] to support our everyday heroes.
The daily fight continues with OM.
Song lyrics: “To arms / To arms / We are the citizens of Marseille / And we will win / Go OM!”
This video by Andaman, a professional drone filming services in Melbourne, shows the 5 million-strong city as if it had stopped in time.
Contributor Kevin Rennie, who lives in Melbourne, said:
A city of over 5 million people, well known for its very heavy traffic, both cars and pedestrians around the central business district (CBD). It's even quieter in the days after this video was taken.
It is reminiscent of scenes from Stanley Kramer's 1959 Hollywood blockbuster “On the Beach,” starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardiner. It was about the end days after a nuclear war.
Khojasta Sameyee, who reports on her native Afghanistan for Global Voices, shared a video she made herself driving the streets of the Kabul. She says:
The video shows the third day of quarantine in Kabul city. The government has locked down Kabul city for more than three weeks since March 28, and the video shows a usually very crowded area of Kabul called Qale-e-Fethullah.
Kabul’s lockdowns mode. #Covid_19 #CoronavirusOutbreak pic.twitter.com/KHJozmDrQa
— Eng.Khojasta Sameyee (@KhojastaSameyee) March 30, 2020
The reported positive cases of the coronavirus in Afghanistan reached 665 on April 13.
More recent cases include 16 in Kabul, eight in Herat, two in Kandahar, two in Logar, two in Daikundi, two in Takhar, one in Bamiyan and one in Parwan.
The Bangladeshi capital is widely known for its traffic woes, but since the government ordered general public holidays on March 26, the 21 million-strong city gained a cleaner look.
Here is a video of Dhaka from above, uploaded to YouTube by Naibur Rahman Joy on March 29, 2020. The main streets are almost deserted with the odd vehicle plying, while boats and ferries remain neatly parked in the Buriganga river.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh as of April 13, 2020, is 803 with 39 deaths.
On March 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for an unprecedented “Janata Curfew” (peoples’ curfew) from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
With the exception of essential and emergency services, all shops and services were closed during the “people's curfew,” as well as most public transport. On March 24, a 21-day lockdown began. The people's curfew was a trial for the actual, much longer lockdown, which proved to be more challenging for the Indian Government in terms of managing the movement of people.
The YouTube channel of Indian Express Online published a video with stunning visuals of different Indian cities under lockdown — including Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh, and Ludhiana.
India has registered 9,635 COVID-19 cases with 331 deaths as of April 13, 2020.
Nepal announced a week-long nationwide lockdown on March 24 which was later extended until April 15. As of April 13, Nepal has confirmed 14 COVID-19 cases and no deaths.
On YouTube, there are plenty of drone videos of different Nepali cities under the lockdown, such as Hetauda Bazar, Pokhara, and Dharan.
Here is one of the Harisiddhi suburb in Lalitpur, a city at the edge of the capital Kathmandu, uploaded by Highlights Kathmandu:
The Sindh Province of Pakistan, of which Karachi is the capital, entered a 14-day lockdown on March 24.
This drone video of Karachi, a city of 16 million people, shows empty streets just before the lockdown. It was uploaded by Shahtaj Bhutto.
Pakistan has confirmed 5,496 cases with 93 deaths as of April 13, 2020.
Romina Navarro, a Global Voices contributor who lives in Buenos Aires, shared this video from Argentina by the daily newspaper La Nación.
Argentina has registered 2,208 cases as of April, as well as 97 deaths. A nationwide quarantine has been in place since March 20.
Romina says:
What strikes me most is the absence of the crazy, noisy traffic and crowded sidewalks that I used to hate of Buenos Aires, and now somehow I miss them. The capital city that usually was lively and sleepless now seems sad and sleepy, but still so beautiful.
The metropolitan area of New York City and New Jersey is the new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. New York state has registered 195,031 cases by April 13, out of 500,000 in the whole of the US.
Shanori Samea, who writes about Afghanistan for Global Voices, is a graduate student at Columbia University, in New York City. She shared this video by Reuters showing the city's empty subway:
.@cmhettich commutes home from Times Square this afternoon on an empty New York subway pic.twitter.com/3R9hrotoTY
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 30, 2020
Ọmọ Yoòbá, who's translation manager for Yorùbá in Global Voices, shared a video he made in Nigeria's, and Sub-Saharan Africa, largest city, Lagos, with the following explanation:
Lagos, popularly called Lasgidi by the youth population in Nigeria is famous for its busy and bustling culture, but it has ceased to bubble for 10 days now. The part of Lagos in this video is Òkè Afá, along the Ìsọlọ̀ Èjìgbò road, however with the lockdown, people are still seen moving about, some taking a walk, jogging, some to buy food, while others are out to do one thing or the other.
Has your city, town or village been affected by a lockdown, too? Is there a video? Share links in the comments!

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Global Voices


text:
Iran fails to contain COVID-19 as internal political clashes prevent a timely and unified response · Global Voices
Ezzatullah Mehrdad

Iranians burying corpses of COVID-19 victims in Gilan province in the north of Iran. Screenshot from a video posted on Facebook by user Begoonah. (WARNING: the video contains images that might be disturbing to some viewers).
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 started in Iran in February 2020, internal political clashes have prevented the authorities from adequately responding to the pandemic. As a result, Iran has become one of the worst affected countries: as of April 10, more than 66,000 Iranians have been infected and more than 4,000 have died, in a population of over 80 million.
On April 1, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared in a cabinet meeting that the country was on the right path in the battle against COVID-19. After thanking Iranian healthcare workers, he said that “cases were on a downward trajectory in most provinces” of Iran.
But the Iranian Health Minister Sayed Namaki sent a different message in a parliament hearing on April 7, stating that Iran was still managing the pandemic and had not yet contained the spread of COVID-19. He also warned that the statistics curve should not be a source of “pride and neglect.”
The health minister's concerns were echoed in a parliament debate on the same day over whether or not to impose a nationwide lockdown, with some members advocating for a lockdown. Abdul Karim Hosseinzadeh, an MP from Tehran, argued that a lockdown was necessary to protect the lives of health workers and ordinary citizens.
As this netizen points out, the Iranian government is sending mixed messages:
حسن روحانی:
“رشد مبتلایان به ویروس #کرونا در تمام ایران نزولی شده.”
تصویر زیر نمودار مبتلایان روزانه ویروس کرونا در ایران بر طبق آمار وزارت بهداشت است که با سرعتی که می‌بینید در حال افزایش است.
به نظرم یک نفر برود برای حسن روحانی، فرق نزولی و صعودی را تشریح کند. pic.twitter.com/Cy3WY2Esqr
— على حسين قاضى زاده (@Alighazizade) April 1, 2020
“Hussain Rouhani: ‘The infection cases were on a downward trajectory in Iran.’ According to the Health Ministry, this statistics shows the number of infected people are on the rise. I think someone needs to explain the difference between the downward and upward trends.”
On April 11, however, President Rouhani asked all Iranians with low-risk jobs to return to their workplaces, adding that the country was past the peak of the epidemic.
Since religious leaders took power in the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran's political life, including important decision-making at the highest levels, is in the hands of senior members of the clergy. The role of head of state is assigned to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, a position currently filled by Ali Khamenei.
The virus has been spreading fast inside Iran, affecting the country's senior leadership. Members of Iran's parliament, including the advisor to President Rouhani, officials of the health ministry, and religious scholars have tested positive, with some fatalities. Many officials were tested in spite of having no symptoms, while testing was only available to ordinary Iranians who showed symptoms.
“This test is free for patients who have symptoms,” said one doctor, on condition of anonymity. “I think it is unethical that officials are tested without having symptoms. With our limited testing kits, patients need more tests.”
As the virus spread, Khamenei ordered the Guardians of the Revolution, a branch of the army in charge of protecting Iran's political system, to take charge of battling COVID-19. The same disagreements emerged: while Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the commander-in-chief of the Joint Armed Forces, wanted to announce a lockdown, the government refused to do so.
“With so much pressure on Iran, the Iranian government does not want to impose additional pressure on society,” journalist Behzad Pour Saleh wrote in an article for BBC Persian. “Besides, cities in quarantine and travel restriction all require a well planned chain of command, something Iranian authorities lack.”
This netizen shares a video in which people wearing decontamination suits complain about the situation in hospitals:
وضعيت بد بيمارستان بانه!!بيمارستان فاقد لباس،دستكش و حتي كيسه جنازه است? ننگ و نفرين بر آخوند كمكهاي بين المللي كجا رفت؟ كمكهاي فرانسه مستقيم فرستادند فرودگاه لبنان!يعني عربها لبنان از كُردها و ملت ايران ارجعيت دارند رژيم مي خواهد كُردها را نابود كنه واقعيتي كاملا محسوس #كرونا pic.twitter.com/RzrBlnV9Yi
— كيـــــــــــــٰا?K___i___a? (@add_kia) March 25, 2020
“This is how bad the situation is in Bana Hospital!! The hospital lacks protective gear, gloves and even body bags. Shame and hate to clercs, where did the international aid go? French aid was directly sent to Lebanon! It means Lebanese are more important than Iranian Kurds. The regime wants to eliminate Kurds, a clear fact.
Iran's announcement of its first case came rather late, on February 20 in the city of Qom, a holy site for the majority of Muslim Shia believers. Given that the period of incubation is at least two weeks, the people who died in February could have been infected as early as late January. As this journalist testifies:
#Iran’s Min. of Health to MPs: On Feb 19th I told the cabinet we’ve patients with signs of #COVID19 in the city of Qom. I was told to not publicize it till after the parliamentary elex. (Held 2 days later. Plenty of evidence they knew weeks before Feb 19) pic.twitter.com/tTv46c9Qqv
— Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) April 7, 2020
Despite the writing on the wall, President Rouhani initially refused to acknowledge the pandemic. He said in a televised national address on February 25 that “it was a conspiracy of the enemy to lock down the country by spreading fear of COVID-19,” adding that “suspected cases should be admitted in hospitals, but all others should continue to go to work.”
Eventually, Qom city turned into the epicenter of the pandemic in the country. The government announced the closure of shrines on March 13, nearly one month after the spread of the virus, a decision hardliners described as “following blindly the anti-religious instructions of the World Health Organization.”
With no travel restrictions imposed, many Iranians also continued to travel and visitors from neighboring countries returned to their homes, carrying the virus. In many countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Canada, Lebanon and the Gulf countries, the virus was traced back to Iran.
The lack of coordination is obvious. As Kianush Jahanpur, spokesperson for the Health Ministry, observed in a tweet, on March 23 large crowds gathered to mourn the death of a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, against all public health protocols:
این هم احتمالا یه جور پروتکل بهداشتی جدید در #تشییع و اعمال محدودیت در تجمعات است …
تصاویر گویاست،
فقط باید گریست،
بدون نیاز به شرح!!!#کرونا#COVIDー19 pic.twitter.com/HdgyEJF0y4
— Kianush Jahanpur (@drjahanpur) March 23, 2020
There are possibly new health measures in place for funeral and for imposing restriction over gatherings. This photo speaks for itself. All we can do is cry. No comment.
Clashes of opinion between the armed forces and the government also emerged in relation to the issue of foreign aid. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif requested aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the first time in six decades. The appeal faced a veto by the US under its “maximum pressure.”
The US offered aid directly to Iran, but Tehran refused to accept it. “You are accused of having created coronavirus,” wrote Khamenei in a tweet. “I don’t know if it is true. But when there’s such an allegation, can a wise person trust you? You could be giving medical drugs that spread the virus or cause it to remain.”
Government spokesman Ali Rabiei outlined the official policy with regard to foreign aid on Twitter:
ضمن احترام به همه کشورها و سازمان‌های بین‌المللی‌ای که تاکنون پیشنهاداتی درخصوص کمک به ایران در مبارزه با #کرونا_ویروس مطرح کردند، سیاست ما در خصوص کمک‌های انسان‌دوستانه کشورهای خارجی و نهادها این است که هر نهادی به هر مقدار که بخواهد کمک کند آن را دریافت خواهیم کرد.(۱)
— Alirabiei (@Alirabiei_ir) March 25, 2020
With respect to all countries and international organizations that have offered offered Iran aid in battling COVID-19, our policy toward humanitarian aid by foreign countries and organizations is that and institution will be received as much as it wishes to help.
Iran's ambassador to France, Ibrahim Qasemi, said that the Paris-based international aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had chartered a plane to send personnel to help Iran fight the pandemic and were setting up a temporary hospital in Isfahan.
At the last minute, however, MSF was denied entry. Basirat, a news site owned by the Iranian armed forces, published a story claiming that MSF was coming to examine symptoms of COVID-19 Iranian patients and design a new virus or drug that would only affect the DNA of Iranians.
Instead, hardline Islamists of Iran claimed that they were ready to help Europeans. A group of young members of the armed forces prepared care packages to help “poor Americans.” Health Ministry spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour said, however, that the country was not in a position to help other countries.
نمیخواد
به مردم #مستضعف آمریکا کمک کنید
یک ماسک و دستکش
به این عزیزان بدین که هرلحظه در معرض بیماری اند#ماسک #امریکا_مستضعف #کرونا pic.twitter.com/vaHGETeUJB
— نرگس خاتون (@jastnarghes) April 1, 2020
“There is no need to help poor Americans. Give glove sand a facemaks to these dear people who are at risk of infection.”
While the various powers within Iran clash over policy, ordinary people have continued falling ill and dying of COVID-19.

author: Ezzatullah Mehrdad


text:
Sierra Leone lifts 10-year ban on pregnant girls attending school · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

A young aspirational school girl lines up ready for class in rural Sierra Leone. Photo by Geraint Hill via CC BY-SA 4.0.
On March 30, 2020, President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, alongside Education Minister David Moinina Sengeh, announced the immediate end to a 10-year school ban against visibly pregnant girls and teenage mothers.
President Bio, in office since April 2018, claimed that his government is working on creating a more inclusive nation.
Commenting on the move, Elin Martinez, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said:
By ending the 10-year ban against pregnant girls and teenage mothers attending school, the Sierra Leone government is finally addressing a longstanding injustice. This measure gives every girl the chance to achieve her full potential and succeed in getting her education.
The decision came after a pool of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) including Equality Now, Women Against Violence Exploitation in Society (WAVES), Child Welfare Society, and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa filed a case on May 17, 2018, in the Court of Justice of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against Sierra Leone’s ban on pregnant girls attending school.
In December 2019, the court found that the government of Sierra Leone breached the right of pregnant girls to education by prohibiting pregnant school girls from accessing school.
The NGO Equality Now gives an account of the court decision:
In a succinct and powerful judgement the Court found that the government had not only put in place a discriminatory policy barring pregnant girls from school but had also failed to put in place measures to reduce teenage pregnancies in line with the National Strategy for the Reduction of Teen Pregnancies, which was adopted after the civil war.
Further, the court found that the government had discriminated against the girls by setting up parallel schools that were sub-optimal and limiting in that girls would only be taught four subjects and learn for only three days a week.
The East African reports that the ECOWAS Court of Justice fined Sierra Leone $10,000 on May 7, 2019, for filing its defense late in a case brought by the rights groups against the ban.
After a long civil war from 1991 to 2002, the country was hit by the Ebola virus epidemic between 2014 and 2015. During this period, many young women experienced sexual violence and rape and gave birth to babies as a result of these rapes. The teen pregnancy rate increased by 65 percent during the Ebola crisis, according to a study by the United Nations Development Program.
Unmarried teenage girls also sought out transactional exchanges with married men to gain financial security.
Mohamed Hashim Rogers, a public health expert who teaches in the department of microbiology at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences in Sierra Leone, wrote about this crisis and about what motivates young women to seek out married men:
They choose to enter into relationships with men who have the capacity to financially support them, which enables some young girls to advance in diverse workplace training. Discussions I had with young girls in Aberdeen community, Freetown, in May 2019 revealed these determinations.
Netizen Yanoh Jalloh commented on Rogers’ insights, calling on the role that parents played in the lives of young girls who partnered with older, married men:
I might add that these relationships are not always “unblessed” by the parents. Often times the parents often turn a blind eye or other times encourage these relationships as it takes off financial burden from them. This is when it becomes problematic because sometimes young women/girls are exploited so that they can take care of their families. Let us not forget Ebola, where many girls were left orphans without parental figures and were pushed into the hands of sugar daddies by extended relatives.
A study conducted by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations Population Fund in July-August 2015 in 12 of Sierra Leone’s 14 districts identified teens who were pregnant or had given birth in the last two months. Out of 14,386 teen girls, the youngest among them were just 11 years old.
Many netizens have been reacting to this decision as a victory since December 2019, when the courts first declared the ban a breach on the rights of girls and women:
Chernor Bah writes:
Victory for #girls in #sierraleone. #overwhelmed that #ECOWAS court has ruled the ban on #pregnantgirls from #school is a violation of rights and must be revoked. Proud of the effort of this movement that’s stayed consistent and principled in fighting this ban. #SaloneTwitter
— Chernor Bah (@Cee_Bah) December 12, 2019
In response, ADN still questioned whether or not it is appropriate for pregnant girls to attend school:
Do you think it's a cultured thing to see teenage pregnant girls going to school with their peers? Can you take you girl child to a school where lot of girls are going to school with pregnancy?
— ADN (@PrezoChi) December 13, 2019
But in March, David Moinina Sengeh tweeted in support of “radical inclusion:”
@PresidentBio & @MOBSSE_SL has overturned policy implemented by the previous govt in 2010 that prevented pregnant girls from attending school. We'll replace w/ policies of #RadicalInclusion + #ComprehensiveSafety. #Data4DecisionMaking #SDG4 #SDG5 We'll transform education in SL pic.twitter.com/9lAHorGG8R
— David Moinina Sengeh (@dsengeh) March 30, 2020
And Miriam Mason-Sesay sent a message to keep all girls safe:
So many collaborators to bring this off!! Congratulations to us all. Let’s keep them safe during this new closure so they can benefit ?????
— Miriam Mason-Sesay (@MiriamMasonSesa) March 30, 2020
While Sierra Leonians celebrate ECOWAS Court decision, Human Rights Watch reminds the world that there are still some countries in Africa where pregnant and parenting teens are deprived of their human rights — including the right to attend school:
Across Africa, students are barred from school because they became pregnant or are mothers. … In November 2018, the World Bank withheld a US$300 million loan for secondary education in Tanzania, expressing concern over its exclusion of pregnant girls and teenage mothers.
However, after nearly three years of women's rights groups protesting against Tanzania's school ban, on April 7, the government decided to allow pregnant school girls to attend school as part of the World Bank's $500 million USD loan.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Malaysia orders ‘stern action’ against media misreporting government statements on COVID-19 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Screenshot of the website of Malaysia's Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM)
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Malaysian civil society groups have expressed concerns over the statement of the National Security Council directing the police and the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) to take ‘stern action’ against online news websites that allegedly misreport government statements on COVID-19. Several media groups also criticized the release of an infographics detailing various types of ‘fake news’ which includes the posting of criticism against authorities.
On April 11, 2020, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that the KKMM and police have been ordered to take ‘stern action’ against news portals which publish news which are ‘confusing and inaccurate.’ He explained that this is necessary to provide the public with accurate information about COVID-19.
Several civil society groups criticized the order and warned that it directly undermines free speech:
A disproportionate response by directing punitive actions against media institutions can be counter-productive as it could shut down the flow of information and related public discourse that is crucial in dealing with public health issues.
They also questioned why online news websites were singled out by the minister. They added that it is dangerous to allow the government to decide which statement has been ‘misquoted’ or ‘misreported’ by the media.
Governments cannot be the sole arbiters of truth by having the power to arbitrarily decide what information can and cannot be in the public domain and what has been “misquoted” or “misreported”.
Article 19 chapter in Malaysia urged authorities to protect the work of media while the country is battling the COVID-19 pandemic:
The gov will lose their credibility when they start attacking media& journalists.The gov must make efforts to protect the work of journalists. Journalists&media are front liners that work hard to provide info to the public and their work must be protected instead of undermined.
— ARTICLE 19 Malaysia (@Article19Msia) April 12, 2020
On April 10, Malaysia's Information Department released an infographics informing the public about various types of ‘fake news’. The following types of content are considered ‘fake news’ (translation by the Centre for Independent Journalism or CIJ):
[content that] brings down the dignity and image of an individual, the reputation of an organisation and the country; instills hate towards the ruling government and leaders; relates to the infrastructure of critical information about the country; involves teachings of extremist beliefs; touches on the sensitivity of religion and race; and contains elements of pornography, gambling and lies.
CIJ said the list released by the Information Department could lead to a crackdown on free speech:
The dangers of generalising and listing the alleged ‘types’ of ‘fake news’ alludes to tactical attempts by the government at cracking down legitimate speech aimed at crushing dissent or differences of opinion or disproportionately restricting various forms of expression.
Aliran, a human rights group, said it reflects the insecurity of the government:
We take issue especially with the government’s attempt to punish those whose criticisms are deemed to have caused ‘distrust in the ruling government’.
Resorting to censorship, especially in its extreme form, in a time of crisis reflects the insecurity of the government of the day.
Fahmi Fadzil, a Member of Parliament, has some questions for the department. He wrote on Facebook:
Is the government saying we can no longer comment or be enraged when a minister says warm water can help kill the Covid-19 virus?
Or if when there are graphics released by the government that invites wives to address their husbands while mimicking the voice of Doraemon?
When it’s right, it’s right. When it’s wrong, it needs to be corrected.
The MP is referring to recent news reports involving a minister who suggested the drinking of warm water to kill the novel coronavirus, and a government information material advising housewives to use the voice of the Doraemon cartoon to prevent domestic abuse.
The CIJ has drafted a comprehensive program on how to uphold freedom of expression during the COVD-19 pandemic. Here is CIJ’s recommendation on how to combat disinformation:
6. “Fake news” – education over prosecution. Dissenting voices must be heard; promote democracy.
Have efficient/broad channels of information from the govt and media for the public to verify info and report misinformation
Repeal/amend laws that arbitrarily stifle speech!
— CIJ Malaysia (@CIJ_Malaysia) April 9, 2020

author: Mong Palatino


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COVID-19 exacerbates inequalities in Trinidad & Tobago’s education system · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Education, Anthony Garcia, at a press conference held on April 14, 2020. Screenshot taken from TTT Live Online‘s Facebook livestream.
COVID-19 has upended many established systems — social, economic, even political — around which our existence once functioned. One of the most glaring effects of this upset, however, has been the education system, through which COVID-19 has laid bare the startling gaps in equity.
In Trinidad and Tobago, conversations have been happening around this issue on social media channels like Facebook and WhatsApp chat groups, and a central consideration is the extent to which privilege affects access.
On March 13, 2020, Prime Minister Keith Rowley announced the closure of schools across the country as part of the government's effort to slow the potential spread of COVID-19. On April 14, the country's minister of education, Anthony Garcia, held a press conference in which he stated that the earliest that schools may physically be able to reopen is September 2020. In the interim, he added, he would be “abolishing” the third term of the 2019-2020 school year, which usually runs from September to early July, and condense the 2020-2021 school year into two longer terms.
Meanwhile, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Lovell Francis, announced the launch of an online learning management system (LMS) — for which hundreds of teachers have already created content — across all education levels. The platform, which he said is fully operational, also allows for virtual teaching. In the comments, however, several parents said they had encountered trouble logging on and that the platform was oversubscribed.
That does not include nearly 60,000 students (by Minister Francis’ estimate) who lack internet access and devices to learn online, but stakeholders like the Catholic Board of Education and UNICEF are reportedly trying to help fill this gap.
Several parents were also upset that special needs students were only addressed after a reporter asked the question of Minister Garcia, who responded:
With respect to meeting the needs of students, specially, who are our special students, the crisis that now confronts us really has no bearing on what we have been doing before. For quite some time now, we at the Ministry of Education have recognised that our special students must be allowed to access their education which, again, is available to everybody. Our mantra is, no child should be left behind.
The issue for many parents though, is that far too many children —special needs or not — are being left behind and internet access is just one measure of inequity.
According to Tracy Hutchinson-Wallace, the mother of two children with special needs who spoke with Global Voices by telephone, “all the ministry has managed to do with this LMS is take the existing school system — with all its inequities and dysfunction — online”.
Hutchinson-Wallace and Gabrielle Hosein, head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at The University of the West Indies’ St. Augustine campus, had engaged in a debate on Facebook in mid-March, soon after schools were closed.
Hosein shared her exasperation over her daughter's online classes, which she felt were being administered through a “non-child friendly system”:
I don’t know if this is happening across schools over the country but it shows the same lack of realism in our approach to education, it repeats the same extreme pressures on parents that are built into a system, it makes us all work at odds with our context and moment rather than encouraging new approaches and learning of life skills, and it betrays a failure to take a breath and ask what learning philosophy is behind this approach to completing curriculum while conscious of the stress it is causing, and many parents inability to manage working while overseeing school during the same hours.
What was lacking, she suggested, was “a more empathetic approach to learning” that —rather than being at odds with work and family demands — instead offered “choices about how to combine education with empathy and learning with life.”
Hutchinson-Wallace weighed in on the comments thread, explaining:
This small hiccup that you are complaining about is DAILY LIFE for the disabled and their parents. For the first time EVER in history, the rest of you understand what it is like when the ‘normal’ systems are not set up for you, when you must struggle each and every day to survive, much less thrive in this noxious miasma of an education/employment system.
Now that you know what it's like, go ahead, please, fix it for yourselves. You know what to do. You've known it all along, but it was always too much trouble, too expensive, too unreasonable, too much to figure out, too much everything to make accommodations and supports and services for the other 15% to be included in society.
Upon Hosein's recognition of her position as “totally valid”, Hutchinson-Wallace added:
I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY rooting for you folks in the sector to get this done. You might not fix everything, but there will be some wins. Whatever those wins look like, make that your focus. Because this crisis will end and when it does, if we all go back to status quo, we missed an opportunity.
With the ministry's “philosophy” of “keep[ing] the system going […] to ensure that teaching and learning never end […] and that we keep that business moving as long as this situation continues”, several parents — including Facebook user Karen M. Medina — remain unconvinced that the ministry will seize the opportunity presented by COVID-19 to overhaul the local education system and make it more equitable:
[…] after listening to two people who manage education, I do not feel educated at all. If the term starts in September (big IF), what is the period from April to September. Self-guided learning for kicks? Optional online self-improvement? Extended school holidays? How does this work with the schools and how they have rolled out the curriculum for their students? Two students in the same class at different schools are not coming at this from the same point in their education. […] What is the expected outcome? What about children with learning disabilities? What happens when parents go back to work? What happens to those who work from home? What about teachers who are also parents? The [Ministry of Education] was utterly tone-deaf and did not effectively address my concerns. I have given high praise to our government this last month. Not this rounds.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Even with a law, São Paulo’s municipalities are not fulfilling citizens’ right of access to information · Global Voices
Agência Mural

Despite the law, municipalities do not reliably respond to requests for information sent by citizens | Image: Fellipe Sales/Agência Mural
This story was written by Paulo Talarico and Priscila Pacheco. It is published here through a content partnership between Global Voices and Agência Mural.
The website of the City Hall of Diadema, a city in the Greater São Paulo's area,  appears to have transparency over public data. But that's just the appearance.
When accessing the page, a notice shows up for residents to participate in the discussion on the municipality's guiding plan. On the government tab or near the footer you can find the Transparency Portal, an online tool for increasing fiscal transparency of Brazil's federal government.
There you can find LAI (Access to Information Law) page — a law created in 2011, which regulates the access of Brazilian citizens to public information. Agência Mural filed a request on August 9 for data on the implementation of the management plan of Diadema's Mayor Lauro Michels, reelected in 2017. The system was scheduled to respond by August 29. Almost three months later, no response.
Diadema's lack of transparency is not an isolated case and is the reality for residents of almost half of São Paulo's metropolitan region. Agência Mural requested data on the target plans of all 39 municipalities in Greater São Paulo — 17 ignored the requests.
The legislation stipulates that all public agencies in Brazil are obliged to disclose information when requested to do so by any resident (except when the information is classified as secret). But the law is frequently breached by municipalities. The situation is particularly bad in populous regions such as Greater São Paulo, where 21 million inhabitants (10 percent of Brazil's population) live.
In some cases, even the pages to file requests for information were not found, and in others there was no option to appeal if the request were not answered. Both are obligations of municipal governments according to LAI.
The report made a request by post for municipalities that had no electronic platform | Photo: Anderson Meneses/Agência Mural
Claiming to be transparent is a hallmark of candidates in Brazilian elections, but that changes when politicians take power.
When he ran for mayor in 2016, Marcus Melo, the mayor of Mogi das Cruzes, made a point of noting in his government plan that he would “expand the tools of transparency and public administration social control”. Three years later, this is not the reality.
With 400 thousand inhabitants and a budget of BRL 1.6 billion (around 300 US dollars) per year, the municipality still lacks an easily accessible page. Since we couldn't find the e-SIC (the form where citizens can file for requests online), we sent a request by letter. The municipality contacted us and said it needed a personal document and a phone number to file it.
The document was sent on August 15. Four days later it was filed. Three months passed and no response was received. There is no way to appeal.
Jamile Santana, 31, co-founder of the website Painel Jornalismo, also had problems accessing public information. Jamile says she has filed complaints with the Public Prosecutor against Mogi das Cruzes and Guararema, a neighbouring municipality.
In the legal action against Mogi, she highlighted the obstacles she encountered in the e-SIC, including the lack of an option to make an appeal when filing, on June 12, a request for access to the list of debtors enrolled in the municipality's active debt.
The local government missed the 20-day deadline and on July 3, without requesting an extension, informed Jamile that the Transparency Portal was not the right approach. It stated that the request should be made in writing and in person using the General Protocol at the site of attendance. The action, however, was shelved by the Attorney General's Office.
In Guararema, the problem brought before the Public Prosecutor's Office was that an appeal had been evaluated by the same person who had rejected the application before. Jamile had sent a request regarding ISS (tax on services) by email and received an incomplete reply from the head of the financial section.
“I asked him, where do I enter an appeal? I submitted the arguments there, and it was the same manager who had attended to me the first time,” she said. According to Article 15 of the LAI, the appeal must be evaluated by someone of a higher rank.
The lack of compliance with the LAI in Mogi das Cruzes was identified by the State Court of Auditors. In his August 2019 assessment, Councilor Sidney Beraldo listed five types of failures. “Although a citizen information system has been created, there is no municipal legislation dealing with access to information,” he said. Nevertheless, the Court recommended approving the accounts audited.
This lack of transparency is similar to that found by Agencia Mural in 2018, when we identified at least 20 municipalities that hamper access to public information. At the time, most of them had no apparent e-SIC.
However, that time, we chose to send the requests by letter to the municipalities in which we did not find a system or where there was a problem that prevented the process. Thirteen letters were sent by post.
Of these, three cities responded to the request: Suzano, which sent a reply; Biritiba Mirim, which rejected the request, and Mogi, cited above. The other nine municipalities simply ignored the requests. The problems of transparency go beyond the municipalities of Greater São Paulo.
In May, the NGO Article 19 released a report with the results of an evaluation of the e-SICs of the 26 states and the Federal District, the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), the Senate, the House of Deputies, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).
No institution achieved 100 percent of the defined criteria, with the CGU having the highest score, 93 percent, followed by the states of Alagoas and Maranhão, both with 80 percent. In Roraima it was not possible even to register, because the system was offline.
But what leads a municipality to not comply with a law which has been in force for seven years? We asked Fabiano Angélico, an expert in public transparency.
One of the points is that small municipalities may have difficulty establishing the necessary structure. Technology and a team are needed to meet the demand.
However, municipalities with budgets of almost BRL 3 billion per year (around 580 million US dollars), like Barueri, also ignored requests made by Agência Mural. Governed for the fifth time by Rubens Furlan, his office did not answer questions about the LAI.
Sometimes managers also lack interest in the topic. “Political will is something created. It's the people, NGOs, local journalists, who get the municipality to act,” Angélico says.
For him, the more requests, the more chances of the law being used effectively. “It is very clear that states and municipalities have no more excuses,” he says.
He explains that there are three ways to demand improvements in information access. The first is to mobilize public opinion, to take the issue to the city council for councillors to denounce the situation, or to media outlets working in the city. The second way is public prosecution and, finally, the State Audit Court.
Especially in the case of journalists, it is recommended to act together, particularly in smaller municipalities, for security reasons. “The Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) filing a complaint about non-compliance, for example, may have more weight with the public prosecution service,” Angélico said.

author: Agência Mural


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In Ecuador, an old family home is revamped as a residence for young mothers · Global Voices
Belen Febres

Photo of a woman with her son in Casa La Ribera. Photo used with permission.
See the Global Voices special coverage about How Women Fight Gender Violence in Latin America.
La Ribera used to be a family estate in Sangolquí, Ecuador, a suburb of Quito. The house's white walls and wooden beams are surrounded by trees, and a river swirls nearby. There, the Jijón family lived for three generations. As the years passed, children moved away and the home was abandoned.
On October 2019, the property was once again filled with food, laughter, and fun. Carolina Reed, the daughter-in-law of the previous owner, Alfredo Jijón, turned the abandoned house, where her husband grew up, into the Casa La Ribera, a project promoting overall health, emotional wellbeing, and autonomy of women between the ages of 14 and 24 who are pregnant or young mothers. The project is run by the Fundación Alfredo Jijón and Plan Internacional.
For now, due to the measures taken to slow down the spread of COVID-19, the program's support is provided from afar. The women in charge call the participants every day to see how they are doing and send them activities for their babies twice a day. They are also managing handouts of food and cleaning supplies.
In this interview, Carolina Reed, the Director of Casa La Ribera, talks about the program.
Belén Febres (BF): How did the idea for the program originate?
Carolina Reed (CR): When we stopped visiting our house in Sangolquí, we felt the need to put it to good use. My brother-in-law and father-in-law were gynecologists and they were brilliant men, that's why we decided that converting the house into a space dedicated to pregnant women and young mothers would be a good way to remember them.
There were already some programs in place for preventing pregnancy and providing shelter for young mothers in Ecuador, which is the Latin American country with the highest rate of teen pregnancies. However, I couldn't find any specifically dedicated to empowering women with a focus on women's rights. That´s why I decided to create one.
Photo of Casa La Ribera. Used with permission.
BF: In what way do you apply this focus [on women's rights] to your project?
CR: Teen pregnancy facilitates the violation of certain rights, such as the right to health, education and a life free from violence. Our work is based on the belief that we are all entitled to human rights and that pregnancy should not be a limiting factor in those rights. That's why our focus is not on charity work, it's an overall effort to ensure that the rights of those young women who are pregnant or have children are respected.
Photo of Casa La Ribera. Used with permission.
BF: What are the main objectives of the work?
CR: We have two main objectives, health and autonomy. We provide integral and personalised support for the physical and emotional health of the young women. We emphasise the right to a healthy pregnancy and birth, and to respectful, quality health services. As well as access to information and the detection and prevention of violence.
We also put a lot of emphasis on mental health. We have a full-time psychologist and offer group therapies and workshops on various topics.
The second objective of our work is autonomy. First, we endeavour to have the young women graduating from school. We are in contact with the education institutions to ensure that the girls can count on receiving the necessary tools to achieve this objective.
We also look forward to coordinate with the Ministry of Education so that the women who can not attend school in person can reintegrate into the system or have access to distance learning from Ribera.
We also focus on economic autonomy. We work with other organisations so that the young women can go to university, get a good job or start their own business. That way they can reach their maximum potential.
The emphasis we place on autonomy is extremely important. Many of the girls are victims of violence in their homes and it is fundamental that they have sufficient economic support to leave. Without that support it would be impossible.
Photo of Casa La Ribera. Used with permission.
BF: What is the connection between teen pregnancy and violence?
CR: There is a strong link between the two. First, the pregnancy of an underage girl is an act of violence in itself. There is also a socioeconomic violence that comes from within the country. Many of our participants live in alarming situations of poverty, and this limits their ability to exercise their rights.
Second, there is a physical and psychological violence which is naturalised in their houses, whether it be by their parents, relatives, or partners. There are also many cases of sexual violence, with some cases of rape and even group rape.
Finally, there is the institutional violence. There is a stigma related to teen pregnancy and it tends to be the woman who is blamed. The La Ribera Program breaks down those notions because we do not judge. We offer acceptance and respect.
Photo of Casa La Ribera. Used with permission.
BF: How do situations of crisis, such as the pandemic we are experiencing at the moment, affect the rights of young women?
CR: [Crises] make it easier to see the socioeconomic differences and the instability in which many of our participants are living. For example, at times like this, hygiene is fundamental. One of our girls didn´t have drinking water [at home]. Many have been left with no income and without the means of buying even basic necessities.
They are about to give birth or have recently had babies and are having great difficulty in accessing the necessary health services, or finding support, which was already limited. They are alone and afraid. What´s more, the fact that they cannot leave their houses significantly increases the risk of domestic or family violence. In these circumstances, the support  we provide is even more crucial.
Photo of Casa La Ribera. Used with permission.
BF: What results have you seen in the short time the project has been running?
CR: So far, the Ribera Program has brought support to 20 women, and soon there will be 10 more. We have seen changes that have made us really happy. For example, one of the girls had left school because of her pregnancy and has now returned to her studies. Some arrived with very low self-esteem and are now more confident and have started to feel more optimistic about their future. It is also very rewarding to watch as the bond between mother and baby grow. This motivates us to keep working to provide these women with a safe space where they can find trust and support as well as the strength to leave the circle of poverty and violence and achieve their dreams.

author: Belen Febres


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Caribbean netizens take to ‘extempo’ music to spread COVID-19 safety messages · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Raymond from Trinidad and Tobago takes up the COVID-19 extempo challenge. Screenshot taken from a YouTube video uploaded by King Razah.
Trinidad and Tobago is known the world over as the birthplace of calypso music and a key aspect of the genre is “extempo”. Short for “extemporaneous”, this lyrically improvisational form of calypso — which typically involves live contests in which performers spontaneously invent lyrics around given themes — is both popular and entertaining, due in some measure to the biting picong between the combatants of these extempo wars.
Such interactive performances typically include spectators echoing one of a number of refrains, the most common of which is santimanitay!, a derivative of the French phrase sans humanité (“without mercy”).
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, many Caribbean netizens — as well as members of the diaspora — have heeded the call of Trinidad and Tobago's reigning Extempo Monarch, Brian London, to try their lyrical prowess in a COVID-19 extempo challenge. Ian Webster, three-time holder of Barbados’ Calypso King title, also claimed credit for starting the trend — but regardless of who issued the initial clarion call, the riposte was phenomenal.
Among the “first responders” were three-time Junior Extempo Monarch, Kevan Calliste, who would certainly appreciate that extempo, being a competitive sport of sorts, is ultimately judged by the inventiveness of the lyrics, and the poise and confidence with which they are delivered.
Some of the best offerings included Trinidad and Tobago's current Calypso Monarch, Terri Lyons, who urged Facebook users to “stay at home…don't go and roam”:
On a serious note 'bout this COVID-19
You have to wash your hands and practice proper hygiene
And social distancing will make corona subside
So please comply and keep your ass inside
Lyons took the opportunity to challenge some of her peers, including former Calypso Queen of Trinidad and Tobago, Heather MacIntosh, who readily jumped in via YouTube:
The government trying the best they can to pound some sense into citizens
Man, every day they on the TV, asking, begging, pleading with we
Distance yourself, help flatten the curve; do them simple things your nation to serve
Now I adding my voice, telling John Public, ‘Stay home, stay safe and please don't get sick…’
On YouTube, Grenadian singer Jermaine Simon warned that the coronavirus does not discriminate, so everyone should strive to self-isolate:
I sit home listening to the news thinking
‘Bout the deadly virus COVID-19
Sad, a lot of people dead and they gone
The rich, the old, the poor and the young…
In fact, several singers from Grenada got together to do the challenge and send a strong message to the public about how their behaviour can help stop the spread of the virus.
St. Lucian musician Arthur Allain also contributed, causing the country's prime minister, Allen Chastanet, to call him a “true patriot and ambassador”. His tune included these lyrics:
Ladies and gentlemen, the message now is clear
Corona is serious but have no fear
We can win this war, yeah, we can win with ease
All we ask is that you kindly stay at home please…
Of course, not everyone who participated was a professional singer, but many had musical talent, like Trinidadian Facebook user Sonja Tee, who sang:
These are strange times and you know it's true
COVID-19 has changed everything that we do
We were living our lives with normality, going to work, visiting friends and family
We thought that those times would forever last
But this global crisis put that in the past…
This unnamed man from Dominica also offered a worthwhile contribution:
Well, I say it must be a curse, this COVID-19 virus
And it taking over the world, every man, woman, boy and girl
It affecting every country, cripple the world economy
Everybody now search their soul, I say Jah taking back control…
Three generations of the Caribbean diaspora, two of whom are health care workers, also teamed up to do the challenge. The video was widely shared via WhatsApp:
As nurses in the USA, this is what we would like to say:
Coronavirus, ah telling you, man, we don't think that USA has a plan
But we will fight through and through, stay in your house I'm telling you
Wash your hands, wear a mask, and don't get corona up in your ass
Delivering a serious message with a tinge of humour, ambassador and former member of parliament in Trinidad and Tobago, Amery Browne, had the last word:
Some turn to science, some start to pray, some in the supermarket all day
Some spraying Lysol under their shoe, some buy out all the toilet tissue
But from the facts we cannot hide, our social distancing must be wide
So listen to me, swallow your pride, my friend — keep your tail inside
Santimanitay!


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Fighting the COVID-19 ‘Infodemic’ in the Asia-Pacific · Global Voices
EngageMedia

Screenshot of the CekFakta homepage
This article by Sara Pacia is from EngageMedia, a non-profit media, technology and culture organization. This is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
While governments and health workers worldwide are focused on combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, they are also busy fighting another related pandemic that cuts across all sectors of society: a massive “infodemic” equally as wide-reaching and harmful.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes this infodemic as “an over-abundance of information – some accurate and some not – that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it”.
Verified and timely information is more important than ever – but is also more challenging to come by. The global frontliners in this fight against mis- and disinformation on the coronavirus include:
Similar efforts are taking place in the Asia-Pacific, where region- and country-specific groups are relying on constant, collective fact-checking to combat the infodemic. We want to highlight some of them in this post.
In the Philippines, for example, journalists are sharing their best practices on how to accurately report on the pandemic. Internews also funded a 3-part video series on how Philippine fact-checking organization VERA Files is combatting the COVID-19 infodemic. For example, this video debunks inaccurate claims about bats and a false report about an alleged positive coronavirus case in a Philippine province. Another video explains how to protect ourselves from COVID-19.
Screenshot from #Coronavirus: Disinformation video by VeraFiles
A similar Internews project is present in India, where partners are continuously conducting fact checks on rumors related to COVID-19.
In Malaysia, there is ample misinformation being shared online – such as one viral video claiming that coronavirus would make people behave like zombies. Malaysian media organization The Star regularly debunks such false information on the pandemic.
In Indonesia, CekFakta is also at the forefront of debunking false information on the virus, including myths that drinking garlic boiled in water can cure you. The collective fact-checking and verification project is in collaboration with the Indonesian Cyber Media Association, the Indonesian Anti-Slander Society, and the Alliance of Independent Journalists.
In Taiwan, Taiwan Fact-Check Center has a dedicated project for COVID-related mis- and dis-information.
In Myanmar, the Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS) is providing the latest information on COVID-19 on its website to combat countless fake news stories and hoaxes spreading in Myanmar. The MOHS is also raising public awareness through videos on how the medical staff and the general public can stay safe.
The BBC is also teaching citizens in Myanmar how to fight the infodemic through Thangyat or traditional folk music. It is also supporting similar efforts in Indonesia, India, Cambodia, and Nepal.
As this infodemic – arguably the first true social media infodemic of our time – continues with no clear end in sight, more and more initiatives will surely start and grow. It is up to us to stay informed and do our part to sustain these initiatives, else we ultimately lose in the broader fight against disinformation.

author: EngageMedia


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Harvey Weinstein’s prison sentence is a reminder of the difficulty of obtaining justice for sexual assault · Global Voices
Grace Ruan

CBSN news report on March 11, 2020. Screenshot from Youtube.
So finally, Harvey Weinstein was condemned to 23 years in jail. While this judgment, announced on March 11, was welcomed by many, the trial that led to it was a demonstration of how excruciatingly difficult it is for women to obtain justice for sexual assault.
As a rape survivor myself, and someone who has supported survivor friends through botched trials and PTSD, I cannot help but think of Weinstein as merely one prosecuted rapist out of the thousands who run free. I have also signed this story with a pseudonym to protect my identity, as I have not recovered completely.
Weinstein was convicted for the rape of two women. Six women testified as to his deeds, sharing harrowing testimonies of abuse and violation. All in all, 15 women accused him of rape, while an additional several dozen accused him of sexual harassment over the course of more than two decades. The fact that he will finally serve some time in prison won’t bring back the careers he destroyed, nor soothe the wounds he left on women’s bodies and psyches.
According to the statistics of the US Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), fewer than a quarter of sexual assault cases are reported to the police (230 out of 1,000, to be precise). The reasons for this are multiple. Among them is the inability of many survivors to name what happened to them, fear of reprisals by the rapist, or a desire to protect the rapist, the situation in my case.
Like the majority of survivors, I knew the man who raped me: I dated him. He loved poetry and literature. He came from an abusive family but seemed to have overcome his trauma. He got through university, liked grabbing a drink with friends, and forcing unprotected sex on me, no matter how many times I said ‘no’. And although I considered myself well educated on gender-based violence, the idea I could be assaulted by my partner was so alien that it took me nine months to realize that what he did counted as rape.
But I still did not want to report it because it would be his word against mine. Moreover, I would often think that he had “enough on his plate” because of his difficult childhood.
The hurdles for rape survivors do not stop at their decision to report or not — out of 1,000 reported cases, only 46 lead to prosecution. Why? Part of the answer lies in how rape cases are handled by untrained police officers. Among my friends and activist circles I have heard of too many cases of mishandling or misplacing of evidence by the police.
Added to this is the attitude of incompetent officers towards victims, which prevents the latter from speaking up. Survivors complain that officers ask them “what they were wearing” or blamed them for “going out late”. The simple fear of being treated similarly would deter me from filing a complaint.
Within the legal process, survivors are ordered to recount their ordeal again and again, a deeply traumatic experience, and an inefficient one, too. As traumatic amnesia quickly kicks in, many people are not able to remember details as vividly, resulting in minor inconsistencies that end up weighing against them. Mental shock can also cause victims to dissociate emotions from events, which may make them appear detached. This contradicts the image of the “distraught-victim-of-an-unknown-man-in-a-dark-alley,” and many police officers have not registered complaints because they did not deem the victim credible enough. This is particularly well exemplified in the case of the trial of Marie Adler, the story of a botched assault inquiry that was adapted as a Netflix series.
To return to RAINN’s statistics: nine cases out of 1,000 will be dealt with by a prosecutor. Out of those, only 5 lead to a trial. And out of these, 4.6 rapists will serve prison time.
Even when trials do occur, they are not walks in the park: every detail of a plaintiff’s life is put under scrutiny. Their “morality”, their sex life, their mental health, their bodies.
In France, 11-year-old Sarah, assaulted by a 28-year-old man, was not considered to have been raped because she looked “older than her age” and appeared calm. Therefore, the trial against her aggressor was based on whether she had consented or not.
Recently, a friend of mine who is a rape survivor was told, in a Western European court by the lawyer defending the man who raped her, that she “did not want to tell her boyfriend she had sex with another man, so she accused him of rape.” The sneering remarks of defense attorneys wound plaintiffs deeply. Chanel Miller, the plaintiff in a 2016 case involving students at California's Stanford University, for instance, was depicted as a heavy drinker by defendant Brock Turner's lawyer, who taunted her to the point that she had to be excused from the courtroom.
While fewer than five sexual assault cases out of 1,000 end up with a condemnation, one in six women in the United States has been raped at least once in her life. In France, this number is one in 10, and in Belgium, one in 5.
Pondering these statistics as you scroll through your Facebook friends list is a horrible calculation to make. But a statistical exercise I find people even more reluctant to do is to wonder how many of their friends and relatives have committed rape. If out of six women has been assaulted at least once, we are all very likely to have at least one rapist among our loved ones. How many have been denounced, prosecuted and sentenced?
The idea that rapists are visibly devious perverts is at best inaccurate, at worst very damaging. It's an idea that makes it impossible for us to imagine that any of the talented, kind and generous people we know could have assaulted someone in their lives.
Meanwhile, the road to recovery is steep. It includes everything from PTSD to depression and eating disorders. The healing process is full of breakdowns, but also resilience. Speaking for myself, and for many of my friends, one does not forget—one just learns to carry on and live with our surviving selves.
For further information and resources on dealing with sexual violence, visit RAINN's web site.

author: Grace Ruan


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Indigenous people in Australia prepare for COVID-19 · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Crossing into Arnhem Land at Cahills Crossing, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia (2019). Photo by Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Emergency nurse and humanitarian volunteer Helen Zahos has been working with COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit in Australia. Zahos grew up on the remote island of Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory, which has a large indigenous population. In a recent interview, Zahos warned Australians that “we could see the demise of entire indigenous communities if COVID-19 spreads to these remote areas…”
Australia's population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (as the country's indigenous population is often collectively called) numbers over 800,000, approximately 3.3% of the total population. More than 150,000 live in remote communities and homelands, and face major health issues with significant gaps compared with non-indigenous people. Life expectancy is approximately eight years less than for non-indigenous people, and child mortality is higher.
Chronic conditions experienced by indigenous Australians include respiratory diseases, mental health problems, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Trachoma and rheumatic heart disease are also widespread.
There has been considerable preparation for COVID-19 by indigenous communities, organisations and media across Australia, especially those in remote areas. In Northern Australia, there has been lots of activity to spread information and protect indigenous communities, and there have been calls for ’Elder Protected Areas’, special areas to protect elders and other vulnerable community members.
On April 16, the national government announced that it would invest $AU 3.3 million ($US 2 million) to “establish a rapid coronavirus (COVID-19) Remote Point of Care Testing Program for remote and rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”
The Northern Territory (NT) has approximately 76 remote indigenous communities and 500 homelands (remote areas with small populations living on traditional lands). The NT government has closed off travel to and from indigenous communities, which, however, has also restricted travel to centres such as Alice Springs for medical attention and shopping for essentials.
The Northern Land Council (NLC) has produced messages in 19 languages, including this short film in Pitjanjatjara:
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) is using its Facebook page to promote safe practices:
Social distancing in the Northern Territory – Image courtesy AMSANT
Indigenous people comprise 40% of the 40,000-plus population in the Kimberley region in the north of Western Australia. Stringent restrictions have been imposed in the region, including no travel between local government areas. This follows a number of cases of COVID-19 in the region, including five health workers.
Kimberley Land Council’s website also has lots of useful information, and the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service is providing resources, including this video in Kimberley Kriol:
Well-known Kimberley artist Shirley Purdee has gone ‘to sit out the coronavirus’ with her people:
‘I am frightened': Indigenous people return to homelands to wait out coronavirus https://t.co/SCT8Ta1k8T
— ?Ray Wilton ?? (@raywilton4) April 14, 2020
ARDS Yolngu Radio in eastern Arnhem Land has been broadcasting messages in various languages:
Our work keeping Yolngu up to date with critical COVID-19 news is getting a lot of coverage. Here's an ABC article on our work: https://t.co/MNEy2zjqMb
We recognise the ongoing support of the Northern Territory and Australian Governments in helping us deliver these services.
— ARDS Aboriginal Corporation (@ARDS_AC) April 3, 2020
All non-essential permits required for entry to Aboriginal lands in Arnhem Land are currently suspended.
Further south, the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) radio has been also been active. ‘Yuendumu is doing fine… how Coronavirus is affecting a remote Northern Territory Aboriginal community!’ is an audio interview in one of the local languages, Walpiri, with resident Louanna Williams. It explains how the community is dealing with the threat and includes a summary in English at the end.
This animation from Paw Media is also available in Walpiri:
Local radio stations are publishing lots of information on their websites. National Indigenous TV (NITV) is part of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). Its free-to-air channel, which reaches 95% of Australians, has covered the emergency extensively. One of its news reports highlighted the plight of Aboriginal people sleeping rough in urban centres like Perth, Western Australia:
Aboriginal rough-sleepers issued move-on notices and given 10-minutes to pack belongings and leave, but WA police say they are doing all they can and acting with compassion to support homeless people in Perth.
There was more positive news in Adelaide, South Australia:
Indigenous people sleeping rough across metropolitan Adelaide have been put up in motels under an initiative by the South Australian Housing Authority to help them stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
Popular indigenous animated TV series, Little J and Big Cuz, has joined in with a short message:
Little J has an important message for all you Jarjums about washing your hands. #LittleJBigCuz pic.twitter.com/kaTYqDfQhr
— @NITV (@NITV) April 3, 2020
COVID-19 has not yet broken out in indigenous communities. Hopefully, the national lockdown and social distancing will keep them safe.

author: Kevin Rennie


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Life in the time of COVID-19: A Caribbean perspective on isolation · Global Voices
Atiba Rogers

One egg wears a face mask, while the other is in self-isolation. Image by Ivan Radic on Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of life the world over, and the Caribbean is no different. At the more southerly end of the archipelago, Trinidad and Tobago — as of April 17, 2020 — had 114 cases of the coronavirus, while Jamaica, to the north, was at upwards of 143 confirmed cases. In addition, various regional territories are under some form of lockdown or stay-at-home orders.
In the midst of this “new normal”, netizens have been sharing their experiences via social media. The three examples highlighted here are all different: one is a gripping account from a COVID-19 survivor, another is a traveller who had to quarantine at a state facility, and the final testimony comes from a teen with autism who writes about coping with self-isolation.
All of them had to dig deep in order to emerge on the other side of their adversity.
Ranelle Roberts-Williams, who describes herself as “a 34-year-old wife, mother and Vincentian lawyer”, became St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ first confirmed case after testing positive for COVID-19 on March 11, 2020.
Upon her recovery, she shared her experience “not only to reassure those who have questions or fears but also as part of [her] own therapy” following what she calls an “unfortunate ordeal”.
On March 10, she contacted the island's Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment to report a persistent dry cough, which was worrying to her considering that she'd recently returned from the United Kingdom, where COVID-19 was quickly turning into an epidemic.
Although her initial call was not taken seriously, she persisted until she got tested and immediately isolated herself at home, thereby preventing potential spread of the virus:
I dare not imagine what the consequences would have been had I not insisted that I be tested for COVID-19 after having been told that I ‘did not fit the criteria’, as I would have been commuting daily and conducting business as usual.
Roberts-Williams’ anguish over her diagnosis was exacerbated when she discovered that her patient confidentiality had been breached:
My name and photos were being circulated on social media […] Imagine having to cope with a medical diagnosis for an emerging virus, while being in isolation away from your family and loved ones, with your business and staff impacted, while much inaccurate and malicious rumors are swirling around about you and your family.
Although Roberts-Williams revealed that “isolation was difficult and has been a rollercoaster of emotions”, her COVID-19 symptoms were mild and she recovered without medical intervention. To her, the fallout from the unauthorised dissemination of her medical information was far worse than the virus itself — including the fact that people who were never even in contact with her were stigmatised.
After 23 days in quarantine, Williams is now fully recovered, having tested negative for COVID-19 on two consecutive occasions. She did have some advice for her fellow Vincentians, though:
STAY AT HOME. Be kind to one another. COVID-19 does not require the stigma attached. Desist from shaming and discriminating against suspected or confirmed cases and their family and persons in quarantine. […]
No man is an island. We need each other. It is important to let our loved ones know that we love and appreciate them. Leadership involves listening and making and communicating critical decisions with humility and with empathy.
In an anonymous letter to the editor at Wired868, the virtue of empathy featured in a quarrantined patient's description of forced quarantine:
Life in quarantine is sometimes being disappointed by the lack of empathy of your fellow countrymen.
Making the point that being asked to quarantine in a state facility is “first and foremost a national duty […] for your safety and that of your countrymen” the author also acknowledged that it is also more difficult to manage that self-quarantine — “and it isn't any safer”:
It is policing your co-residents because your health depends on them as much as it depends on you. It is reminding 21 other mates to: wash their hands after their vitals, before going to the fridge or to our make-shift kitchen counter, to not pick their nose, to keep on their masks, to keep their distance when they speak to you.
The author found the unpredictability of quarantine to be one of the most difficult aspects, but he found solace in prayer:
It is loving the God you cannot see and hating the neighbour you can. […]
It is being ostracised by those you thought were friends and being ‘befriended’ by some who are not. It is trying to keep your physical health while feeling the loss of your mental health.
It is being part of the forgotten; not positive for the virus so you can be treated—but seemingly ineligible to return home.
Amid the despair, the author noticed bright spots — humanity at its best:
It is pleasant when the strong console the weak, when you can still see gratitude from co-residents in spite of the grumblings. It is seeing loved ones outside drawn even closer in spite of the physical distance.
Life in quarantine is knowing that this too shall pass.
It is unclear whether the author is still a temporary resident at the COVID-19 quarantine facility.
Everyone experiences isolation differently, as Rowan McEwan, a student who attends Trinidad's prestigious Queen's Royal College, can attest. Blogging at causeaneffect, McEwen describes himself as “one of the many teenagers in the Caribbean who live with autism”.
Though he admits that learning about Trinidad and Tobago's first case of COVID-19 was “devastating” for him, he also says:
Throughout my life, I have overcome multiple barriers to get to where I am, and the one I’m currently facing is no different.
Despite his determination, life in quarantine is undoubtedly challenging. He misses school, the place where he used to socialise and take sanctuary:
To not be able to visit this place at all was truly painful. And it wasn’t just school that was off-limits either. The entire outside world was suddenly beyond my grasp.
As a former refugee in the Libyan Civil War, the isolation McEwen is experiencing under the Trinidad and Tobago's current COVID-19 stay-at-home order dredges up painful memories of when he and his family were “stuck at home, living in constant fear”.
There is no doubt that life in seclusion can be harrowing, but perhaps the more stringent the measures are now, the sooner the world will be able to emerge from this pandemic, with fewer deaths and greater appreciation for our shared humanity.

author: Atiba Rogers


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Bangladesh’s frontline health workers contend with resource scarcity, stigma and restrictions · Global Voices
Palash Ranjan Sanyal

Image by fernando zhiminaicela from Pixabay. Used under Pixabay's Free for commercial use license.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Around the world, frontline workers like doctors, farmers, shopkeepers, transporters, aid workers, and volunteers are playing a significant role in the fight against COVID-19. In Bangladesh, as in many other countries, such workers are facing an unprecedented level of hardship, and also some criticism.
Its 1 am in Dhaka, #Bangladesh. The night after Bangla New Year, পহেলা বৈশাখ। Our lab team is still in the lab processing #COVID19 samples. So proud of this dedicated team, but also so scared. Such mixed feelings. My heart hurts, constantly. pic.twitter.com/ya6I5j3yTH
— senjutisaha (@senjutisaha) April 14, 2020
Bangladesh has been under lockdown since March 26 and has experienced a significant rise in the number of cases due to an increase in the country's testing capacity — the country has  2,144 infected persons and has recorded 84 deaths at the time of writing. But there are concerns about how the tests are being conducted and also about the safety of healthcare workers. Many testing facilities are not equipped with basic resources and many workers lack the necessary training.
It was reported that Mymensingh Medical college hospital has 6 disorder ventilators. Most of the 61 medical college hospitals in Bangladesh do not have ventilators, lacking of specialized doctors and nurse. Reason is https://t.co/LjkLm1tLe5 COVID patient will be treated.
— Matilal DebRoy (@DebroyMatilal) April 9, 2020
On April 15, Bangladesh saw the death of the first physician who was treating COVID-19 patients on the frontlines. So far more than 65 doctors and hundreds of nurses and other health professionals are in quarantine in Bangladesh after being exposed to infected patients and asymptomatic individuals. 40 of them have tested positive so far.
According to a Deutsche Welle report, many doctors have been staying home during the lockdown and patients with other health conditions are having trouble accessing treatment.
There is also increased scrutiny regarding medical professionals on social media. Bangladesh has roughly one doctor for every 1,847 citizens, and the medical facilities in rural areas are not as modern as the ones in urban centres.
Ever since March 7, when the country's first three COVID-19 cases were reported, health professionals have been voicing concern about the lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), which puts them at much higher risk when in contact with COVID-19 patients, even asymptomatic ones.
Hope Bangladesh Govt. will realise the importance of PPE for doctors and other health workers, recognise their role and risk, stop threatening them. Salute to all health workers those who sacrificed life and those who are fighting to safe humanity.
— Syed Sultan (@SultanUAhmed) April 10, 2020
Six employees of the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control And Research (IEDCR) have tested positive for COVID-19, and reportedly all the agency's officers, including its director, have been sent into quarantine. Elsewhere in the country, there are reports of health professionals being sent to home quarantine, and also some questioning of the viability and efficacy of the home quarantines in a country like Bangladesh.
On April 7, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina criticised doctors who failed to report for duty during the pandemic, saying that “they have a duty to perform”. On April 11, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) suspended six doctors of Kuwait-Bangladesh Maitree Hospital, one of the designated hospitals for treating COVID-19 patients, citing “negligence”. Some of them allegedly refused to treat infected patients, while others failed to report for duty.
Meanwhile in #Bangladesh the health directorate suspended 6 doctors, said divisional cases will be filled against them for not treating #COVID19 patients! It's a difficult time but can we really force doctors, afraid of their own safety, to treat patients?https://t.co/JvOVHpGDuK https://t.co/irTMG1f60q
— Saad Hammadi (@saadhammadi) April 13, 2020
A doctor was also arrested for posting an audio clip with rumours about the novel coronavirus on social media.
On top of the resource shortage, the stigma surrounding COVID-19 has added to the hardships being experienced by both health professionals and COVID-19 patients. Stories of restricted access to living quarters and being chased out of homes and left on the street by their families have shocked the nation. In some parts of the country, local residents have protested the construction of emergency hospitals for COVID-19 patients in their areas, citing fears of the pandemic spreading in their communities.
A Netizen shared the following on Facebook:
ছোট বোন করোনায় আক্রান্ত,এ ক'দিন উর্দ্ধতন কতৃপক্ষের পরামর্শে হোম কোয়ারান্টাইনে ছিল।উপজেলা কমপ্লেক্সে সাসপেক্টেড কোভিড-১৯ রোগীর স্যাম্পল কালেকশন করতে গিয়ে সম্ভবত এক্সপোজড হয়,পরবর্তীতে রোগীর পজিটিভ আসে।সকালে এ খবর পাওয়ার পর থেকে পুরো পরিবার আল্লাহর কাছে সবর দিয়ে আছি,উনিই ফয়সালার মালিক। আপাতত তেমন শারীরিক অসুবিধা বোধ করছেনা,ওর হাজবেন্ডের (চিকিৎসক) স্যাম্পল ও কালেক্ট করে নিয়ে গেছে,ডিসি স্যার,সিভিল সার্জন মহোদয়ের পরামর্শে সে বাসায় থাকতে চেয়েছিল কিন্তু সম্ভব হয়নি, পিপিই পরা লোকজনের আনাগোনা দেখে সম্মানিত এলাকাবাসী লাঠিসোঁটা নিয়ে তাদের অভুক্ত অবস্থায় বাসা থেকে বের হয়ে যেতে বাধ্য করলো। আফসোস নাই, এমনি হওয়ার কথা ছিল, তাই-না?
My younger sister has contracted COVID-19, and was in home-quarantine, following the recommendations of the authorities. She got exposed most probably while collecting patient's sample In the Upazila Complex. The patient has been positive. Right now, they do not have any physical difficulty, her husband's sample was also collected to test for COVID-19. Seeing people in PPE gears, the neighbours chased the couple away. No regret, it was supposed to be like this, isn't it?
One initiative that should encourage health professionals is the new insurance scheme for government employees, including doctors, nurses and law enforcement officials leading the battle against COVID-19, announced by the Prime Minister on April 13. Under the scheme, all frontline responders, including medical professionals will be covered at a level between Tk 500,000 (US$ 5,900) and Tk 1 million (US$11,800) depending on their rank, and increase five-fold in case of death.
The government has also booked hotel rooms for frontline doctors and nurses so that they do not expose to their family members to the virus.

author: Palash Ranjan Sanyal


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Papua New Guinea’s police minister says two journalists who reported on COVID-19 funding ‘can’t be trusted’ · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Prime Minister James Marape addressing the media and the public about the alleged misuse of COVID-19 funds. Screenshot of EMTV Online report uploaded to YouTube.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Papua New Guinea’s Police Minister Bryan Kramer has accused two journalists of publishing an inaccurate report about the government’s COVID-19 funding program.
On April 11, 2020, the minister wrote on his Kramer Report Facebook page that Loop PNG political and business editor Freddy Mou, and senior PNG Post-Courier journalist Gorethy Kenneth, “can’t be trusted”, as the two allegedly have close ties with the previous prime minister and both have allegedly published “biased and misleading reports.”
Mou and Kenneth interviewed Treasury Minister Ian Ling-Stuckey, who reportedly expressed concern about the government’s expenditure related to the COVID-19 response. The interview also tackled the issue about the government’s hiring of media consultants and cars as part of the COVID-19 measures.
Kramer said the treasurer’s words were taken out of context. He also said some of the issues raised during the interview came from ‘unsubstantiated’ social media sources, and called the report “sensationalized and biased.” He concluded with these words:
What action would a reputable media company take against a journalist who caused significant damage to its reputation?
If it were me being misrepresented in the media, I would take immediate action against the journalist and media company.
Loop PNG replied that it “stands by the key facts” of the story and defended its editorial integrity and independence:
Any misunderstanding, though regrettable, was not deliberate or intentional, and Loop PNG rejects all assertions to the contrary.
Loop PNG also rejects any attempts to interfere with its editorial independence, which is a cornerstone of Papua New Guinean democracy.
Opposition leader Belden Namah said the government should respect press freedom:
I want to make it clear to government: you should not be using heavy-handed tactics to suppress the freedom of the press in this country.
If you are criticized, accept the criticism. If it's true that there has been misuse of funds, I want the relevant state authorities to intervene, including the Ombudsman Commission and police fraud squad to investigate.
Prime Minister James Marape insisted on his Facebook page that the report misquoted the treasurer. He assured the public that his government will be transparent in the utilization of funds to fight COVID-19:
Going forward we will account to public scrutiny too as it is good governance practice because more funds will be funneled through for this essential work.
I will not allow misuse of money and profiteering at people’s expense but so far so good, I have witnessed from all hands on deck, a spirit of volunteerism at work.
Activist Noel Anjo wrote on Facebook that there do appear to be discrepancies in the numbers presented by Kramer, the treasurer, and the prime minister. He added that the prime minister should allow the treasurer to speak up on the issue:
The Treasurer is not deaf and dumb or handicapped where the twos can speak for him. Have some respect for the Treasurer and let him provide to the media copies of the cheques printed and given out. Next time stick to your own Ministry and respect each other.
Daniel Bastard, the Asia-Pacific head of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), criticized Kramer for publishing a Facebook post which suggested the firing of the two journalists:
It is not up to a government minister to decide whether journalists should be fired, and especially when it is because of a report he didn’t like.
This constitutes an unacceptable meddling in the media’s necessary work.