DISCRIMINATION those with no family or other support In March, the Council of Europe (COE) network. Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about racism in the police. She recommended recruitment procedures PUERTO RICO promoting access for people from minority groups and the establishment of a fully Commonwealth of Puerto Rico independent police complaints mechanism. Head of state: Joseph Biden (replaced Donald Trump in She also noted the rise of racially motivated January) hate crimes and hate speech, especially Head of government: Pedro Rafael Pierluisi targeting Roma and people of African Urrutia (replaced Wanda Vázquez Garced in January) descent. In March, the Ministry of Home Affairs The government declared a state of introduced a Plan for the Prevention of emergency on domestic violence. The Manifestations of Discrimination in the authorities repressed the right to protest of Security Forces. environmental defenders. Child poverty VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS increased. The legislature presented bills that, if passed, would result in violations of In March, the COE Commissioner for Human the rights of LGBTI people. Rights expressed concern at the persistence CHILDREN´S RIGHTS of high levels of violence against women. She called for domestic violence to be more The Administration for the Comprehensive effectively prosecuted and punished and for Care and Development of Childhood in further amendments to the definition of rape Puerto Rico released a report in March noting in the Criminal Code so that it is entirely that child poverty had increased by 62.7% based on the absence of free consent of the during the previous two years, largely due to victim. the 2017 hurricane season and the Covid-19 In August, a new law entered into force to pandemic. In the first nine months of 2021, strengthen protection for children who the government received 10,390 complaints witness or are exposed to domestic violence. of child abuse, an increase of 3,167 cases in RIGHT TO HOUSING comparison to the same period the previous year. By November child abuse referrals had In March, the European Commission Against risen to 12,109. Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) welcomed the RIGHT TO HOUSING adoption, in 2019, of the Basic Housing Law, in which the right to adequate housing was In August, a study by Ayuda Legal Puerto recognized and safeguards against evictions Rico reported that, almost four years after the were strengthened. However, ECRI noted that devastation of hurricanes Irma and María, it had not received sufficient information to housing had yet to be repaired and people assess the implementation or impact of the were still living in homes with temporary law on people at risk of forced eviction. tarpaulin roofs (blue tarps). According to a separate report on the Action Plan for DETAINEES’ RIGHTS Mitigation Funds, between 15,000 and Substandard conditions persisted in several 18,000 properties still had blue tarp roofing. prisons, aggravated by the pandemic. In May, According to official data, 1,640 houses had the Ombudsperson criticized a plan for the been repaired or reconstructed. social reintegration of inmates released According to data from the Court during the pandemic to avoid overcrowding Administration Office, by August there had because it failed to prevent homelessness for been 676 eviction cases on the archipelago Amnesty International Report 2021/22 304