Amnesty-Report 2015/16, 24.02.2016 (engl. Originalfassung)
The past year severely tested the international system’s capacity to respond to crises and mass forced displacements of people, and found it woefully inadequate. More people are currently displaced and seeking refuge worldwide than at any point since the Second World War.
The Syrian conflict has become a byword for the inadequate protection of scores of civilians at risk, and more broadly for the systemic failure of institutions to uphold international law. Armed conflicts continued in countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and Yemen. Across several borders, IS displayed a gross disregard for civilian lives, forcing thousands to flee. In Africa, state and non-state actors committed serious violations and abuses of human rights in Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, northeastern Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan, including in some cases attacks directed at civilians and civilian infrastructure. Conflicts in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Ukraine continued to claim civilian lives as all parties violated international humanitarian and human rights law. And while the Americas welcomed positive developments in the decades-old Colombian conflict – where, even then, accountability might be sacrificed in a political deal – violence continued to subvert human rights and institutions in countries including Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela.
Among the various threats to human rights surveyed in this year’s report, we highlight here two related themes. The first clear theme of the past year is that the international system was not robust in the face of hard knocks and challenges. As the cracks began to show, we realized that the system of international protection of human rights itself needs to be protected.The second overriding theme of the past year is closely related. At their roots, several of the crises of the past year were set in motion by the resentments and conflicts that often follow the brutal crushing of dissent by states, or when states repress that enduring quest of every person to live in dignity with their rights upheld. The brutal repression of dissent and the denial of people’s basic rights – including economic, social and cultural rights – as well as the failure by states to protect the human rights of all, often spawn societal tensions, the by-products of which, in turn, stretch international protection systems beyond their limits.
The signs of hope that we saw in 2015 were the result of the ongoing advocacy, organizing, dissent and activism of civil society, social movements and human rights defenders.
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