Abstract
This investigation aims to study the situation of human rights during the COVID-19 pandemic in Guinea-Bissau between January 2020 and January 2022. The research organized an inquiry to families and another to market sellers about the effects of the pandemic and the measures enacted by the government and presidency to contain it. A public hearing was also organized, with various entities from the high commission to trade unions, journalists, and the public order police, for information on how each institution saw its situation and action in this period. The conclusions of the analysis of all these qualitative and quantitative data allow us to affirm that the fragility of Guinea-Bissau has such a social weight that a disease that killed fewer people than malaria, diarrhea, or tuberculosis did not overcome the problems of human rights stemming from poverty, institutional fragility, and low incomes in general.
TopBackground: State Of The Art
The methodology began with literature research in the publications of international organizations followed by articles in academics journals taking care to avoid those that only speculated about possible effects of a pandemic very little known at the time of editing. The ones published by WHO and the UN were privileged.
Documentary research focused on Guinea-Bissau, whether in official pandemic data or in books and articles by authors investigating the country. The most reliable institutional information came from the official bulletins on the epidemiological situation, with weekly frequency, produced by the High Commissioner for Covid-19. On the other hand, and regarding the violation of HR, information was collected from the Guinean League for Human Rights (LGDH).
Through this documentary research, it was concluded that families, companies, and market/street sellers could be the social components most affected by the pandemic.
From the information of the Bulletins of the High Commissioner it was concluded that cases of Covid-19 infection were mainly concentrated in the capital, Bissau, in a percentage between 70 and 85%. However, it’s important to note that this concentration can also be justified by the fact that the largest and best hospital (both in terms of human resources and equipment) - Hospital Simão Mendes - is in this region, implying, from the other parts of the small country, a displacement of patients to the area, which in practical terms can translate into a location distortion of cases.
The empirical work consisted of three surveys organized in different universes: families, companies, and market/street sellers.
For the definition of the sample, it's crucial to have in mind that there are only estimates of the population since the 2009 Census. These estimates can be corrected by the voter registration data, which does not cover residents under the age of 18. Thus, and until a new census is made, we cannot consider reliable the estimates obtained 12 years later. The same is true for the distribution of the population throughout the neighborhoods of the capital. What the inquirers say is that the spaces between the neighborhoods have been filled with population coming from the interior, in some cases acquiring new names in other cases increasing existing neighborhoods.
From the point of view of the limited budget at our disposal for this research, the data collection structure was based on the establishment of 4 teams with two people, to which areas and neighborhoods were allocated.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Democracy: Political regime based on the balance of power between bodies elected by all citizens (Parliament and Presidency) or appointed by elected officials (Courts, and Government). Sovereignty belongs to citizens who delegate their representation through free elections. There are several models of democracy, but they all respect this balance. There exists an international scale between plein, imperfect, hybrid, and authoritarian regimes (The Economist Index).
Africa: It may refer to the entire African continent or only sub-Saharan Africa without countries where the official language is Arabic (or a derivative); the division between North, West, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa is also used. Guinea-Bissau is located in West Africa, neighboring Senegal and Guinea-Conakry.
Health Guinean System: Health system consisting of hospitals (central and regional) health centers of three different dimensions and basic health units in the villages. It includes an analysis laboratory, a nursing school, and a medical school. It has public, private, and religious units. The whole system lacks doctors, nurses, midwives, auxiliaries and equipment, medicines, and consumables.
Measures Anti-Pandemic: Measures taken by the authorities of countries affected by a pandemic. They are all based on the isolation of the infected and the reduction of contacts between the entire population, whether staying at home, wearing masks, or doing distance work. Vaccines are a preventive measure and not an anti-pandemic measure.
Human Rights Violations: As defined by the UN are all individual (persons or organizations) or state acts that go against the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights and other documents approved by the General Assembly. These violations are reported around the world by non-governmental organizations or governments that have respect for HR in the Constitution.
Pandemic: It is an epidemic of an infectious disease that spreads in a large geographical region, such as a continent or the entire planet. Only the WHO can declare that a disease is a pandemic. Other diseases that today would be or were pandemics: leprosy, plague, influenza, cholera, typhus, and HIV. Diseases such as Ebola would only be a be considered if they reached much larger geographical areas. Malaria is a disease widely spread all over the planet, but it is not infectious.
Poverty: The situation of people with few economic resources is absolute or relative poverty (inequality). Poverty exists in all developed countries or not and is measured by a World Bank methodology from households’ budgets and access to movable and not movable goods. A poor person in a developed country has little to do with a poor person in a fragile or less developed country.
State Fragility: According to the OECD a fragile region or state has a weak capacity to carry out basic governance functions such as education, health and safety for its citizens and businesses. They are vulnerable to internal and external shocks such as economic crises or natural disasters. It can cover countries with weak institutions, armed conflict, victims of natural disaster, hunger, and extreme poverty spread. These are countries where general informality is permanent.