Human rights organisation Amnesty International says that governments’ abusive policing and excessive reliance on law enforcement to implement Covid-19 response measures have violated human rights and in some instances made the health crisis worse, Amnesty International said today.

In a report released on Thursday, the organisation documented cases in 60 countries where law enforcement agencies committed human rights abuses in the name of tackling the virus.

Overall there has been a sharp increase in police brutality around the word as authorities crack down on individuals who don’t follow the restrictions that have been put in place.

According to a report, in the first five days alone of a curfew in Kenya, at least seven people were killed and 16 hospitalised as a result of police operations.

Amnesty International says that while some limitations on human rights can be justified during a pandemic to protect public health or other pressing social needs, many governments have gone far beyond reasonable and justified restrictions.

“Security forces all over the world are widely violating international law during the pandemic, using excessive and unnecessary force to implement lockdowns and curfews.

“The horrific abuses committed on the pretext of fighting Covid-19 include Angolan police shooting a teenage boy in the face for allegedly breaking curfew,” deputy director of Amnesty International’s Global Issues Programme,“ Patrick Wilcken said.

The rights group says that decisions to arrest, detain, use force, and forcibly disperse gatherings have risked increasing contagion, both for the law enforcement officials involved as well as those who are affected by police actions.