A/HRC/45/44 “hijacked”, diverted or blocked.24 The channels used by donor countries to deliver aid, including in-kind humanitarian and medical supplies, were immediately abandoned. 29. As States began to grasp the highly infectious character and potential severity of the novel coronavirus, some began to hoard medical supplies and to disregard the enhanced risk to vulnerable populations. People of African descent reported disregard and lack of visibility in their access to the right to health, even in wealthy countries. In Canada, civil society reported disregard and long delays in the disbursement of funding for seniors and aggravated risks to food security. 30. In many cases, shipments of all medical supplies, not merely surgical masks or gowns, were withheld by donor countries.25 One wealthy donor State even sought the return of medical supplies via its humanitarian aid vehicle.26 On the other hand, Cuba, an outlier, has provided assistance regionally and globally since the early days of the pandemic. 31. In the early days of the pandemic, several Member States legislated individual financial assistance. “Universal” assistance involved stimulus payments, unemployment assistance, and more. Despite the particular vulnerability and precarity of undocumented persons, several States wholly excluded them from financial assistance. This population is disproportionately composed of people of African descent and of persons serving as essential workers. 32. In many States, migrants and refugees continue to be held in conditions that are inhumane and incompatible with COVID-19-related physical distancing requirements. Some States are conducting large-scale deportations, including of persons who may be infected. For example, the United States has conducted hundreds of deportation flights to the Caribbean and Central America, irrespective of COVID-19 status, raising concerns of “exporting the virus” from a global epicentre.27 33. Prisons and jails in the United States, Brazil and other States have been COVID-19 hotspots, with high infection rates and few containment or preventative measures by the State. People of African descent in detention are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. In closed, overcrowded prisons and jails, basic protective measures, such as physical distancing and hygiene rules, are virtually impossible to implement. People of African descent are disproportionately represented among both prison populations and those succumbing to COVID-19 worldwide. Failure to effectively mitigate the resulting risk in places of detention is an issue of racial discrimination and racial justice. Troubling reports have also highlighted disregard for the rights of incarcerated persons, including in the use of inhumane practices, like solitary confinement, to mitigate COVID-19 contagion in prisons in the United States.28 34. The lack of uniform, universal disaggregated data also compounds the impact on people of African descent. In Peru, although racial self-identification data are collected administratively in the census, COVID-19 data are not disaggregated by “Afro-Peruvian” status. A law adopted on 30 May 2020 eliminated the term “Afro-Peruvian” from its final text, because there was “no legal requirement” to collect data disaggregated on racial grounds. In Spain, representatives of civil society reported a lack of data disaggregated by 24 25 26 27 28 8 See Jacqueline Charles and Alex Harris, “Caribbean nations can’t get U.S. masks, ventilators for COVID-19 under Trump policy”, Miami Herald, 11 April 2020; and Sophia Ankel, “At least 5 countries — including a small Caribbean island — are accusing the US of blocking or taking medical equipment they need to fight the coronavirus”, Business Insider, 7 April 2020. Kim Willsher et al., “US hijacking mask shipments in rush for coronavirus protection”, Guardian, 3 April 2020. Dan De Luce, “Tables turned: USAID asks relief groups around the world for protective gear for U.S. use”, NBC News, 3 April 2020. See Melissa del Bosque and Isabel MacDonald, “Exporting the virus: How Trump’s deportation flights are putting Latin America and the Caribbean at risk”, The Intercept, 26 June 2020; and Alter Presse, “Des centaines de militantes et militants de droits humains exigent la cessation des déportations vers Haïti”, Le Projet d’Information Canada-Haïti, 19 June 2020. Walter Palvo, “Bureau of Prisons using solitary confinement as a means to curb Covid-19 contagion”, Forbes (16 July 2020). According to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), more than 15 days of solitary confinement constitutes cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment rising to the level of torture.