An international rights group has said that Africans in the Chinese city of Guangzhou are being targeted by authorities and forced into quarantine. According to Human Rights Watch, the actions are tantamount to ‘arbitrary detention’.
“Singling out Africans and forcibly quarantining them in hotels despite having been tested negative for coronavirus, not having travelled outside of China recently or not having been in contact with people who are known to be infected, amounts to arbitrary detention,” Yaqiu Wang from Human Rights Watch told BBC. Wang said that Africans in the city are facing discrimination over fears that the coronavirus is spreading among them.
According to reports, hundreds of Africans were evicted from apartments and allegedly forced into quarantine despite testing negative for the virus on multiple occasions.
“In this instance, if people are being put into quarantine with no reference to specific and relevant medical indications, but rather simply because of the colour of their skin or their country of origin, we would consider that to be a form of arbitrary detention and a violation of international law,” said an official from Amnesty international.
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Wrath of Kenyan politicians
Reports of discrimination of Africans in China during the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn furore from Kenyan MPs, given that the Chinese city of Wuhan is believed to the virus’ epicentre. Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi requested that the government withdraws all security officers manning Chinese business installations and residences in Kenya.
“While China was the first country to report cases of the virus, they are now targeting Kenyans and Africans as the carriers of the virus, this is discriminatory and hypocrisy of the highest degree,” he told Standard Digital.
“They can’t blame us for a virus they forced down our throats the same way they forced expensive commercial loans on us,” Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria said.
Ambassador denies
The Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, however, dismissed the claims saying that those claiming of mistreatment flouted COVID-19 regulations.
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"People who found themselves in trouble did not follow regulations on social distancing. Most reported are not Kenyans," Ambassador Wu Peng said.
Trump blames China
The allegations that China blames the coronavirus on Africans come as US President Donald Trump said that his government could demand billions in compensation from China
Responding to reports Germany could lodge a lawsuit worth billions against China, Trump said: "We have ways of doing things a lot easier than that. Germany's looking at things, and we're looking at things, and we're talking about a lot more money than Germany's talking about.
"We haven't determined the final amount yet. It's very substantial.
"If you look at the world, I mean, this is worldwide damage. This is damage to the U.S., but this is damage to the world."
