Human rights around the world: double standards in 2022 more blatant than ever

Ukrainian refugees on a train from Odessa, at Przemysl station, April 9, 2022. REUTERS - LEONHARD FOEGER

Text by: Anne Bernas Follow

3 min

In its annual report, Amnesty International points to the limits of multilateralism and the West's "differential treatment" of human rights violations around the world.

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Freedom, equality, the rule of law, these principles have a prominent place in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN in 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. Seventy-five years later, in the same palace in Chaillot, Amnesty International's Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, says that human rights are increasingly in the wing.

For the NGO, the war in Ukraine marked a turning point in 2022. "We have seen with this invasion that, when there is political will, the results are palpable." This conflict on European soil and the reactions it has provoked (UN, EU, ICC) shows a sad reality: the double standards of Western states that have risen up against the Russian offensive while turning a blind eye to serious human rights violations elsewhere in the world, "even complicit", Amnesty protests.

And the NGO to cite in its report on 156 countries, among so many crises, the case of the countless violations that are increasing in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, but also the behavior of Israel vis-à-vis the Palestinians, and this while 2022 was the deadliest year since 2006 (year of the establishment of the UN census of victims). "Instead of demanding an end to Israel's apartheid system, many Western governments have preferred to attack those who denounce it," Amnesty said. What about the massive reception of Ukrainian refugees and the refusal to receive those fleeing countries such as Libya, Syria or Afghanistan?, asks the NGO.

Agnès Callamard (r) surrounded by various representatives of Amnesty International, during her intervention at the Palais de Chaillot during the presentation of the NGO's 2022 report, on 27 March 2023. © Anne Bernas/RFI

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We must respond to all massive human rights violations as we did for the conflict in Ukraine. States cannot one day criticize these violations and the next tolerate similar acts in other countries just because their interests are at stake," Callamard said. "Those who lead the pro-Ukraine coalition need to understand: they need to step up their efforts and partner with others beyond the West to defend, uphold a renewed, rules-based world order that benefits all.

Impunity, instability and the weakening of multilateralism have therefore continued to increase, to the great displeasure of the victims of all forms of violence. Thus in Burma, Yemen or Ethiopia, where global and regional institutions do not act or do little, "paralyzed by the priority given to their own interests". "Human rights must not be lost in the chaos of global power dynamics," Callamard said. Thus, for the Secretary General of Amnesty International, to survive the multiple crises (wars, but also the climate and economic crisis), it is high time that international institutions (re)become able to carry out their functions.

This would require full funding for UN human rights mechanisms; today, only 5% of the United Nations budget is devoted to it. Amnesty is also calling for Security Council reform to ensure that the voices of all countries, particularly those in the Global South, are heard. "The lack of transparency and efficiency of the Security Council's decision-making process exposes the entire system to manipulation, abuse and dysfunction," the NGO said.

Amnesty International's annual report also looks at the sharp increase in the repression of demonstrations in at least 85 countries and warns among others about the situation in Belarus, Russia, India, but also in the United Kingdom, France, Peru, Mozambique, and especially in Iran where dozens of children have been killed.
In addition, the NGO warns about the particular situation of women in 2022, whether around abortion in the United States or Poland, in Pakistan where many women are murdered by their families or in India among Dalit women, not to mention Afghanistan or Iran.
Also, the economic crisis (in Haiti, Afghanistan...) and climate crisis (in Nigeria, Pakistan...) have ever more repercussions on human rights. "In this context, states have failed to act in the best interests of humanity and have failed to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, the main factor pushing us towards the greatest threat to life we have ever known.

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