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INTERNATIONAL law is close to breaking down worldwide, Amnesty International’s annual report warned today, citing violations in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts and a rise in authoritarianism.
The human rights organisation accused the United States, along with Russia and China, of leading a global disregard for international rules and values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with civilians in conflicts paying the highest price.
Amnesty secretary general Agnes Callamard described the extent of worldwide violations as “unprecedented.”
She said: “Israel’s flagrant disregard for international law is compounded by the failures of its allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed meted out in Gaza.
“Many of those allies were the very architects of that post-World War II system of law.”
The report highlighted US failures to denounce human rights violations by Israel and Washington’s use of veto power to block the United Nations security council from passing a resolution demanding a Gaza ceasefire.
It also condemned Russia’s ongoing military action in Ukraine and China’s arming of the ruling military in Myanmar, which is struggling with an insurgency by fighters loyal to the banned National League for Democracy and ethnic minority groups.
“We have here three very large countries, superpowers in many ways, sitting on the security council that have emptied out the security council of its potentials and that have emptied out international law of its ability to protect people,” Ms Callamard told the Associated Press news agency in London.
The report, which detailed Amnesty’s assessment of human rights in 155 countries, underlined an increasing backlash against women’s rights and gender equality in 2023.
It cited the brutal suppression of women’s protests in Iran, Taliban decrees “aimed at erasing women from public life” in Afghanistan and legal restrictions on abortion in the US and Poland, among others.
Amnesty also deplored huge breaches of human rights in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar.
