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How do you summarize an entire year? Specifically, how do you take all the most horrific things governments have done to people over a span of twelve months and condense them into one annual report?
And how do you do it without getting really, really depressed about the state of the world?
Today marks the publication of Human Rights Watch’s 35th annual World Report. Its 546 pages review the human rights situations in more than 100 countries.
As you would expect, it makes for some grim reading. In much of the world, government repression has expanded and deepened, cracking down on political opponents, activists, and journalists. Armed groups and government forces unlawfully killed civilians, drove millions from their homes, and blocked access to humanitarian aid.
Peaceful avenues for change have been blocked, corrupted, or otherwise proved ineffective. In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders gained ground with vicious discriminatory rhetoric and policies.
In her introductory essay to this year’s World Report, HRW’s Executive Director, Tirana Hassan, highlights Trump’s win in the US, with its threat of a return to the human rights abuses of his first term – or worse. She also notes how, in European elections last year, far-right parties made significant gains by driving anti-immigrant sentiments that undermine democratic norms.
What’s more, authoritarian leaders tightened their grip on power in countries such as Russia, El Salvador, and the Sahel nations of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Under President Xi Jinping, China continued its relentless campaign of repression to enforce loyalty to the one-party state.
However, there were some hopeful stories in 2024.
Syria’s brutal dictator, Bashar al-Assad, was finally driven from power.
In Bangladesh, student protests grew into a national movement that ultimately toppled its long-term repressive leader, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
We also saw meaningful democratic resilience in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hate speech on the campaign trail did not win him the electoral majority he craved.
In South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol attempts to declare martial law failed, as protesters and legislators pushed back quickly to defend democracy.
The lesson is: even in the face of systemic challenges, democracy can still put a check on power domestically.
In their foreign policies in 2024, some governments that claim to champion human rights – and occasionally even follow through on their commitments – very obviously failed to do so last year, when it came to abuses committed by allies.
The most obvious example was the double standard shown by many western countries. Germany, the US, and others continue to provide weapons to Israel despite widespread violations of international law in Gaza, while condemning Russia for similar violations in Ukraine.
At least atrocities in Israel/Palestine and in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine got media and diplomatic attention in 2024. Not so many other atrocity-ridden conflicts elsewhere, like in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan.
With its focus on abuses and atrocities around the globe, our annual World Report – even with a few wins and bright spots also listed – does not make comfortable reading. It may seem nothing more than exhaustive evidence to add to the despair many feel with the state of the world today.
But that’s not the point of Human Rights Watch’s World Report. Its message is twofold: yes, this is the grim reality, but it doesn’t have to be. Things can improve – and things do improve – when people fight to uphold human rights.
In the face of rising authoritarianism, repression, and armed conflict, the need to respect and defend universal human rights takes on more urgency than ever. Civil society should remain steadfast in holding governments to account.
Individuals should not give in to the gloom and accept abuses and atrocities as somehow “inevitable.” No human activity – no government crimes, no repression, no war – is inevitable, and personal resignation to an imagined “inevitable” oppression only helps the oppressors.
The events of 2024 have shown that even in the darkest times there are those who dare to resist oppression and demonstrate the courage to seek progress. Take inspiration from that. Whichever way you think the world is headed, the fight against injustice begins afresh every day. With you and me.
