DEATH PENALTY 2. “South Sudan: Survivors describe killings, mass displacement and Death sentences continued to be handed terror amid fighting in Western Equatoria”, 9 December down and executions were carried out. On 12 3. Letter of Appeal for Truth and Trials in South Sudan (Index: AFR February, the Supreme Court upheld the 65/4305/2021), 7 June Court of Appeal’s 2020 decision to quash the 4. South Sudan Must Respect the Right to Freedom of Peaceful death sentence against Magai Matiop Ngong, Assembly (Index: AFR 65/4760/2021), 23 September and also ordered an age assessment and 5. “South Sudan: End new wave of repression against peaceful retrial. Magai Matiop Ngong was 15 at the protests”, 3 September time of the incident and conviction. 6. South Sudan: Unfreeze Civil Society and Political Activist’s Bank Accounts (Index: AFR 65/5017/2021, 19 November) RIGHT TO HEALTH 7. South Sudan: “These Walls Have Ears”: The Chilling Effect of Surveillance in South Sudan (Index: AFR 65/3577/2021), 2 February The right to health remained under serious 8. “Address the Access Issue and the Pandemic Will Be Managed threat and public health facilities were under- Tomorrow”: Global Vaccine Inequity’s Impact in East Africa (Index: resourced. South Sudanese continued to die AFR 04/5084/2021), 14 December in high numbers of preventable diseases, and other conditions, due to inadequate health services, and attacks on healthcare facilities. SPAIN In Tambura county, armed men ransacked and looted health facilities, depriving civilians Kingdom of Spain of crucial care and violating international law. Head of state: Felipe VI In November, 13 out of 20 medical facilities Head of government: Pedro Sánchez across the county were rendered unusable after being vandalized, and those that The authorities failed to ensure adequate remained were barely functional. access to health during the pandemic. At the end of the year, only 1.52% of the Violence against women persisted, although population was fully vaccinated due to factors steps were taken to strengthen legal including the unequal distribution of vaccines safeguards. Women continued to face globally; insufficient supplies and challenges in accessing abortion. The right unpredictable arrival times; short shelf life of to housing was not sufficiently protected. vaccines; and obstacles to reaching some Undue restrictions on the rights to freedom 8 areas due to flooding and conflict. of expression and peaceful assembly MENTAL HEALTH continued unamended in law. Excessive use Access to mental health services was of force by law enforcement officials severely limited and healthcare providers persisted. The authorities failed to ensure were unable to meet the widespread and adequate reception conditions and a fair significant needs. There were just three and effective asylum procedure for people psychiatrists serving the entire country, who arriving irregularly in the Canary Islands. were also responsible for providing training The government approved a bill on rights for and supervision to health staff. Juba victims of the Civil War and Francoism, Teaching Hospital was the only public while the courts continued to deny them medical facility providing in-patient access to justice. psychiatric care, and demands exceeded BACKGROUND beds available for psychiatric patients. The availability of psychotropic drugs was both The final state of emergency to contain the sporadic and limited. spread of Covid-19 ended in May. In July, following a complaint filed by VOX, a far-right 1. South Sudan: UN Security Council’s Extension of Arms Embargo on political party, the Constitutional Court issued South Sudan a Welcome Step but Weak Benchmarks a Let-Down a controversial ruling regarding the first such (Index: AFR 65/4291/2021), 24 June state of emergency. It found that the government should have used a different Amnesty International Report 2021/22 341