Human rights across the world are in a parlous state as leaders shun their obligations to uphold international law, according to the annual report of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In its 2024 world report, HRW warns grimly of escalating human rights crises around the globe, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments.
The report highlights political leaders’ increasing disregard for international human rights laws. The report says “selective government outrage and transactional diplomacy” and double standards in recognising international human rights laws has put countless lives at risk.
Tirana Hassan, executive director of HRW, said: “There is a persistent assault on human rights spreading around the world as governments turn away from their legal obligations on human rights for short-term political gains and seek to consolidate power.
“There is also a worrying trend of double standards that is not limited to the glaring example of the Israel-Hamas conflict. We see silence on the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity, and where there was a full-throttled demand for accountability and prosecution of war crimes in Ukraine, there is also silence about alleged US abuses in Afghanistan.
“This very clearly sends a message that human rights laws can be applied selectively to different groups of people and chips away at the institutions created to uphold them,” she said.
The report provides a breakdown of countries’ human rights records in 2023. In Afghanistan, women’s rights continued to be crushed by the Taliban and the world has failed to act and prevent wide-scale and horrifying abuses against civilians in Sudan, especially in Darfur.
US allies, including Saudi Arabia, India and Egypt, continue to violate the human rights of their own people with impunity, and the European Union has continued the pushback of asylum seekers and refugees, and struck deals with Libya and Turkey to return migrants trying to reach Europe.
Hassan said: “In a year when we will see half the world going to the polls, this is a strong call to action to protect our human rights institutions and to hold our political leaders to their international obligations to uphold and protect human rights that protect us all.
“What we have seen from Vietnam to El Salvador is that the first thing that repressive governments do is use state security or family values to facilitate repression with attacks on LGBTQ+ communities, women’s rights and refugees. After this, we see attacks on the judicial systems and the courts in what becomes a fast downwards trend towards authoritarianism.”
The report also strongly condemns the UK government for what it terms a “dismal year for human rights”, with a continued assault on fundamental rights, such as the right to protest and seek asylum.
