LONDON
\nThe global system of law and human rights is under threat from a \u201cmultiplicity of assaults\u201d which have accelerated since US President Donald Trump\u2019s return to power, Amnesty International said Tuesday in its annual report.
\n\u201cUnprecedented forces are hunting down the ideals of human rights for all, seeking to destroy an international system forged in the blood and grief of World War Two and its Holocaust,\u201d said the rights group\u2019s Secretary General Agnes Callamard.
\nThe lives of millions of people had been \u201cdevastated\u201d in 2024 as a result of conflicts and abuses committed in the Middle East, Sudan, Ukraine and Afghanistan where women\u2019s freedoms continue to be curtailed.
\nThe report singled out some of the world\u2019s biggest powers such as the US, Russia and China for \u201cundermining\u201d the achievements of international law, as well as the fight against poverty and discrimination.
\nWhile these \u201creckless and punishing offensives\u201d had been underway for several years, according to Amnesty, Trump had served as a \u201csuper-accelerator\u201d of those trends.
\nThe new administration has frozen US international aid and reduced its funding to several UN organizations.
\nThe start of Trump\u2019s second term had been marked by a \u201cmultiplicity of assaults \u2014 against human rights accountability, against international law, and against the UN,\u201d Callamard said, calling for \u201cconcerted resistance.\u201d
\n\u201cWhile international justice mechanisms have taken important steps toward accountability in some cases, powerful governments have repeatedly blocked attempts to take meaningful action to end atrocities,\u201d Amnesty said.
\nIn particular, it took aim at countries that had challenged decisions by the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel, following a complaint of \u201cgenocide\u201d against the Palestinians in Gaza filed by South Africa.
\nOthers, like Hungary, were criticized for refusing to enforce arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against several Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
\nThe year would be remembered for how \u201cIsrael\u2019s military occupation grew ever more brazen and deadly\u201d and how \u201cthe USA, Germany and a handful of other European states supported Israel,\u201d the report added.
\nAmnesty accused Israel of committing a \u201clive-streamed genocide\u201d against Palestinians in Gaza by forcibly displacing most of the population and deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe.
\nIt said Israel had acted with \u201cspecific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, thus committing genocide.\u201d Israel has repeatedly denied such charges.
\nThe war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023 with an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza resulting in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.
\nHamas also kidnapped 251 people, 58 of whom remain in the hands of the Islamist group, although the Israeli military says 34 are dead.
\nIn response, Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and is conducting a military offensive that has left more than 52,000 dead, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
\nIn December, Amnesty condemned the ongoing \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza, an accusation since echoed by other NGOs such as HRW and Doctors Without Borders, but strongly rejected by Israel.
\nAmnesty also highlighted the suffering in Sudan from famine and a conflict between the regular army and the RSF paramilitaries.
\nThe conflict had led to the \u201clargest forced displacement crisis in the world\u201d today, uprooting some 12 million people but had been met with \u201cnear-complete global indifference,\u201d Amnesty said.
\nOn another front, the rights body said violence and discrimination against women had \u201csoared\u201d in 2024, both in conflicts, such as in Sudan, and in Afghanistan.
\nWomen in the south Asian country are subject to draconian legislation restricting their freedoms under the Taliban.
\nFinally, the report highlighted an \u201curgent need\u201d for governments to do more to regulate AI technologies to safeguard human rights.
\nIt warned also that a growing number of governments were abusing spyware and other surveillance tools against opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON The global system of law and human rights is under threat from a \u201cmultiplicity of assaults\u201d which have accelerated since US President Donald Trump\u2019s return to power, Amnesty International said Tuesday in its annual report. \u201cUnprecedented forces are hunting down the ideals of human rights for all, seeking to destroy an international system forged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n