Answer to Question #277135 in History for Kelsey Jand

Question

Which article(s) from the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights were violated in Portugal?  Describe how it was violated.

Answer 1

The government of Portugal declared a state of emergency to control COVID-19 imposing some limitations on the right of movement and assembly. During this period, some essential human rights were violated in efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19. These are summarized below;

·        Right to housing ( Article 7)

City council evicted about 70 people who stayed in social housing for lack of alternatives. These people were not offered accommodation and slept in vans, tents or entrances of neighboring buildings. Their hope was left in the hands of local authorities and volunteers.

·        Discrimination (Articles 7,26)

There existed concerns from HRC of continued discrimination on the basis of race against Roma and African descent people in areas of education, employment and housing and hate speeches and crimes.

·        Right of Refugees, Asylum-seekers, and migrants (Article 14)

The government granted temporal access to health and social care to asylum seekers and non-nationals who had pending residency applications. It had promised to receive 500 minors from Greece but only relocated 72 of them. A Ukrainian national also lost their life following a beating at the border by the police at Lisbon airport. This showed a lack of protection of people during border procedures.

·        Right to Health ( Article 25)

By November 2020, 8,755 health professionals had contracted COVID-19 due to a lack of PPEs. Failure by the government to follow health guidelines raised concerns and many people contracted the virus.

·        Violence against women and girls.

There were increased concerns of prosecution and conviction regarding gender-based violence in the country. For example in July 2020, a woman was prosecuted for subjecting her daughter to female genital mutilation.