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Major challenges continue to confront the international human rights movement.
In the past two years, the United Nations has faced a crisis of legitimacy and credibility resulting from the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations (the International Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Madre), ever more distressingly find themselves unable to hold states to account for the most egregious violations of basic of human rights.
Across the globe, international human rights standards continue to be flouted in the name of the “war on terror”, resulting in thousands of women and men suffering unlawful detention, unfair trial and torture — often solely because of their ethnic or religious background. Around the world, more than a billion people’s lives have been ruined by extreme poverty and social injustice, while governments continue to spend horrendous amounts of money on the build-up of armaments.
The just-released Amnesty International Report reflects the challenges outlined above. The report documents the human rights situation in 155 countries and territories, summarizing regional trends. The report also addresses areas of work being prioritized and developed by Amnesty International — such as violence against women; economic, social and cultural rights; and justice for refugees and migrants – and celebrates the achievements of activists in these and other areas.
“Looking back over the past twelve months, what I see is a war on global values,” says Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Irene Khan (RealPlayer required). “A war that is being fought on the one hand by armed groups that are ready to go to any extreme of inhumanity to attack ordinary people.”
“On the other side we see governments, which have shown an equal zeal in attacking human rights and global principles. And in-between are ordinary people, (who) are paying a heavy price in terms of their human rights, and in terms of their lives.”
We live in a dangerous and divided world. It is more important than ever that the global human rights movement remains strong, relevant and vibrant, and that each and every one of us remain committed to revitalizing the vision of human rights as a powerful tool for achieving social justice.
