By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
A new report by the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) has shed light on incidents of brutality perpetrated by security forces during implementation of some of the COVID-19 measures.
Executive Director of CARL, Ibrahim Tommy, revealed the findings in a press briefing on Friday. He said that the study, which covers just happenings in the month of May, is part of the “Support CARL COVID-19 Response” project that is sponsored by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.
The six month long project is focused on monitoring the human rights landscape of the country’s response to the virus. CARL said the project is also focused on monitoring accountability; from payment of allowances, to procurement and to accessing supplies for relevant beneficiaries.
“According to our findings, there have been allegations of human rights violations in some districts across the country. There were alleged brutalities from security personnel against citizens in the enforcement of the curfew regulations. For instance, in Bo, Koinadugu, Kenema, Kono, Port Loko (Mile 38) and Western Area Rural (Tombo) districts,” a summary of the report states.
Police and Military officers have been routinely condemned for heavy handedness on civilians during the enforcement of COVID-19 measures. Videos circulated on social media have shown security officers beating people to stay indoors during one of two nationwide lockdowns in the country.
Mr Tommy said the attitude of those security personnel who abuse the rights of other people comes down to the seeming culture of impunity in the security forces.
“They did so because they believed they can get away with it. If they know they will be held accountable, they will not do it,” he said.
“It is about impunity,” Tommy stressed.
As part of the report’s recommendations, Tommy said institutions like the Independent Police Complaint Board and the Sierra Leone Human Rights Commission should investigate those human rights concerns and the conduct of officers.
“At the end of all this, we might even ask the Human Rights Commission to hold some public hearings, because it doesn’t matter if it was one case or two, security officers must be held accountable,” Tommy said.
CARL said they will be meeting with the Human Rights Commission and the Office of National Security in the coming days to discuss these findings with them.
CARL’s report in the month of June and July are expected to be launched soon.
The May edition did not just highlight misdeeds of security forces, among other things it also highlights the welfare challenges most quarantine homes in the country have faced during the pandemic.
“From our findings, there have been complaints from quarantine and isolation homes about the lack of food supplies and other basic amenities from the government. There were instances of persons in quarantine homes running away because there was no food and other facilities like water, electricity, etc,” part of the report states.
In May this year, the Human Rights Commission raised similar concerns after touring quarantine homes across the country to monitor the wellbeing of quarantine residents.
Politico has also reported extensively on different challenges that quarantine homes have faced and are still facing. In Bo district, Politico has reported at least two incidents where people in quarantine threatened to breakout because of how they have been treated.
Tommy said a lot of the problem have been down to the lack of communication between authorities and the people in quarantine.
“There was some failure of communication which was very depressing for inmates in quarantine,” he said.
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