Year of ‘rights suppression and hypocrisy’
New York – The past 12 months marked a grim year of suppression of human rights, with world leaders ignoring violations in Sudan and Gaza, and against marginalised groups like the Uyghurs, a monitor said on Thursday.
In its world report for 2024, Human Rights Watch (HRW) singled out the “tremendous suffering” caused by the Israel-Hamas war and the conflicts in Ukraine, Myanmar, Ethiopia and the Sahel region of Africa.
The bloodiest-yet Gaza war has raged since the Hamas attacks against Israel on 7 October.
“Israel’s government responded by cutting water and electricity to Gaza’s 2.3 million civilians and blocking the entry of all but a trickle of fuel, food, and humanitarian aid – a form of collective punishment that is a war crime,” the report said.
The war has killed more than 23 000 people in the besieged Palestinian territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
“We documented alarming human rights trends in the [Middle East and North Africa] region that if unchecked, will sink the region into further instability with global ramifications,” said Lama Fakih, HRW’s director for the region.
“The international system that we rely on to protect human rights is under threat as world leaders look the other way when universal principles of human rights are violated,” said HRW chief Tirana Hassan.
The report gave the example of what it said was a double standard among governments, mostly Western, which condemned the Hamas attacks on Israel of 7 October, but held back on criticism of Israel’s war against Hamas.
The report said that as well as being “a formidable year” for human rights suppression and wartime atrocities, the past 12 months had seen “selective government outrage and transactional diplomacy that carried profound costs for the rights of those not in on the deal”.
The report highlighted the differing responses to the human rights situation in Sudan compared to Ukraine.
“Western governments were initially reluctant to push for an accountability mechanism in Sudan, unwilling to commit the resources or effort they had devoted to a similar body for Ukraine.”
HRW also pointed out the lack of condemnation for “intensifying repression” in China, particularly in Xinjiang and Tibet.
The report calls out the European Union, saying it wanted to contain “migrants’ departures toward Europe at any cost, persevering in a failed approach”.
Hassan said: “When Western states and EU members turn a blind eye to human rights abuses that is nothing short of hypocrisy.” –