Basic human rights and freedoms are being threatened by governments across the globe, a watchdog warned Wednesday, saying seven decades of progress is at risk of coming undone.
Amnesty International’s annual report on the global state of human rights offered a scathing analysis of the situation, saying human rights are the victim of a “wholesale assault” from governments, some of them looking to boost their security in the face of evolving threats.
That has led to undue crackdowns on rights like privacy and free speech, the group claimed.
“Millions of people are suffering enormously at the hands of states and armed groups, while governments are shamelessly painting the protection of human rights as a threat to security, law and order or national ‘values,’” Salil Shetty, Amnesty’s secretary general, said in a statement.
The watchdog said it found many instances in which governments broke either their own or international laws, outlining several in the report. It claimed that 122 countries tortured or otherwise mistreated individuals, while the “laws of war” were violated in 19 countries.
It also reported that governments have been “increasingly targeting and attacking” human rights advocates such as lawyers, activists and other workers, calling it a “worrying trend.”
Perhaps more troubling was that Amnesty found “an insidious and creeping trend undermining human rights,” as governments have underfunded, attacked or neglected bodies who help preserve the freedoms, such the International Criminal Court and United Nations agencies.
“Not only are our rights under threat, so are the laws and the system that protect them,” Shetty said in a statement. “More than 70 years of hard work and human progress lies at risk.”
The 409-page report includes information on 160 countries, including the United States.
It mentioned the country continues to operate the Guantanamo Bay prison, held about 80,000 prisoners “in conditions of physical and social deprivation” nationwide and executed 27 inmates last year.
Amnesty highlighted what it called an “excessive use of force” by U.S. law enforcement, saying that 43 people were killed after police used stun guns on them.
It also mentioned issues with women’s health rights and the country’s treatment of migrants.
Amnesty went on to list some human rights threats that weren’t exclusive to any one nation.
Namely, it said 113 countries “arbitrarily restricted” freedom of the press, 61 nations imprisoned people who were just exercising their rights, 55 percent of the countries staged unfair trials and 30 governments illegally returned refugees to dangerous countries, calling for sweeping reform.
“It is within world leaders’ power to prevent these crises from spiralling further out of control. Governments must halt their assault on our rights and strengthen the defences the world has put in place to protect them,” Shetty said in a statement. “Human rights are a necessity, not an accessory; and the stakes for humankind have never been higher.”