The international response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was clear and forceful, especially from Western countries. Rejection, sanctions, investigation of the crimes that were and continue to occur, opening of borders for refugees from the conflict… An attitude that should be the norm in the face of any violation of human rights anywhere in the world, but which, as has been pointed out, Amnesty International in its annual report, only maintains itself based on the interests of nations. The organization denounces the “double standards” and international “hypocrisy” in the defense of human rights.
“States cannot first criticize human rights violations and then condone similar abuses in other countries just to protect their own interests. It is inadmissible and erodes the foundations of the universal human rights system,” says the organization’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard.
The report denounces that the forcefulness of the West in its response to the Russian aggression contrasts with the lukewarmness in the face of the serious human rights violations being committed by some of its allies, such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
On the other hand, it also highlights the use by China of strong-arm tactics to prevent international action in response to the crimes against humanity that it has committed, as well as the inaction of global and regional institutions (handcuffed by individual interests of its member states) to adequately respond to conflicts in which thousands of people are losing their lives, such as those in Ethiopia, Burma and Yemen.
Amnesty notes that 2022 was one of the deadliest years since 2006 for the Palestinian population of the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces killed at least 151 Palestinians, including dozens of children. The Israeli authorities continued to force Palestinians from their homes and the Government launched plans to dramatically expand illegal settlements. Rather than demand an end to the Israeli apartheid system, many Western governments chose to attack those who denounced it, the report says.
In relation to the United States, Amnesty points out that, despite having admitted tens of thousands of Ukrainian people to its territory, between September 2021 and May 2022 it expelled more than 25,000 Haitians and subjected many of them to torture and other bad treatments.
In the same sense, the states of the European Union opened their borders to the Ukrainian population and demonstrated their capacity to accommodate large numbers of people seeking safety. However, many European states kept their borders closed to those fleeing war and repression in Syria, Afghanistan and Libya.
This double standard in the West, the organization claims, has emboldened countries like China and allowed Egypt and Saudi Arabia to sidestep, ignore and deflect criticism of their respective human rights records.
Despite the massive human rights violations committed against the Uyghur population and other Muslim minorities, in 2022 China evaded the condemnation of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council. The latter appointed a special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia and established an investigation mechanism on Iran following the protests after the death of Mahsa Amini. However, he voted not to further investigate or discuss the UN findings on the commission of possible crimes against humanity in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.
Amnesty notes that 2022 has also been a year of setbacks in women’s rights after the decision of the US Supreme Court to annul the protection of the right to abortion, the restrictions on the right to education imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the inaction of countries like India or Pakistan to prosecute gender violence.
