workers was also detained for several days for treatments for people living in extreme posting information on their situation on poverty. social media. RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS The first National Assembly on Women in Explosions at the Nkoantoma military base in Equatorial Guinea took place on 19 June. Bata on 7 March left at least 100 people Despite such initiatives to empower women, dead and more than 600 others injured. pregnant girls continued to be banned from Lieutenant Colonel Valentín Nzang Nga school following a 2016 order issued by the Bindang, the head of the military base, and Ministry of Education as a purported means Corporal José Antonio Obama Nsue were to reduce adolescent pregnancies. found guilty of homicide and negligence and sentenced respectively to 32 and 50 years’ imprisonment by the military court of Bata. ERITREA The sentences were made public on 2 July. Some national and international NGOs State of Eritrea expressed concerns about the military Head of state and government: Isaias Afwerki procedure, which hindered the rights of the defendants and did not allow the victims and The arbitrary detention and enforced their families to participate in the disappearance of hundreds of individuals proceedings. continued. Conscripts to mandatory national DEATH PENALTY service were forced to serve for indefinite periods. Eritrea did not provide a Covid-19 In response to the stated aim of the president vaccination programme. of Cabo Verde and interim president of the BACKGROUND Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) that Equatorial Guinea Since November 2020, the Eritrean Defence should make “quicker” progress towards Forces (EDF) fought alongside Ethiopian abolition of the death penalty, the government forces against the Tigray People’s ambassador for Equatorial Guinea in Liberation Front (TPLF) in the Tigray region of Portugal, Tito Mba Ada, said on 13 July that Ethiopia. During the conflict, members of the his country would enact the new Criminal EDF, as well as Ethiopian security forces and Code, which would abolish the death penalty militia, committed serious human rights “very soon”. No such steps had been taken violations, including sexual violence against by the end of the year. women and extrajudicial killings of civilians, RIGHT TO HEALTH that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity (see Ethiopia entry). In August, according to Ministry of Health ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND ENFORCED data, around 144,000 Equatorial Guineans DISAPPEARANCES were fully vaccinated against Covid-19, out of a total population of about 1.4 million. The Eritrean authorities continued to subject Vaccination was obligatory from July for hundreds of individuals to arbitrary detention soldiers, health workers and teachers. and enforced disappearance. Journalists, According to the French newspaper Le former politicians and practitioners of Monde, the country faced a shortage of unauthorized religions remained in detention medicines, including essential ones, due to without charge or access to lawyers or family alleged lack of investment by the Ministry of members. The whereabouts of 11 politicians Health in the purchase of drugs. This led to and 17 journalists arrested and detained 20 increased prices, thus preventing access to years ago for criticizing the president’s rule remained unknown. Amnesty International Report 2021/22 160