Amnesty International has analysed the situation in 159 countries in 2016. And denounces: “The 'us versus them' rhetoric is the product of scaremongering that breeds division and fear”.
In a world poisoned by populist, xenophobic discourse that feeds a culture of hatred towards the other, human rights are crumbling, while the fate of the most vulnerable is left at the mercy of nationalist and xenophobic policies: this is the bleak picture that emerges from Amnesty International's 2016–2017 report, presented in Rome simultaneously with other world capitals.
"2016 was the year in which the cynical use of the 'us versus them' narrative, based on demonisation, hatred and fear, reached levels not seen since the 1930s of the last century," declared Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International. "A large number of politicians are responding to legitimate economic and security concerns with a dangerous and divisive manipulation of identity politics in order to gain consensus."
Seeds of hatred sown by the words of several world leaders — from US president Donald Trump to Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, from the Turkish president Erdoğan to Philippine president Duterte — who "shamelessly peddle the dangerous idea that some people are less human than others, thereby stripping entire groups of people of their humanity. This risks giving free rein to the darkest sides of human nature."
A general drift whose results, Amnesty underlines, are plain for all to see: in 2016, the deliberate bombing of hospitals became a routine occurrence in Syria and Yemen; refugees were sent back to conflict zones; the near-total inaction of the world in the face of the situation in Aleppo brought to mind similar failures in Rwanda and Srebrenica, in 1994 and 1995.
Amnesty denounces the fact that in the past 12 months, as many as 36 countries violated international law by illegally sending refugees back to countries where their human rights were at risk. Among these, the names of countries habitually counted among the most democratic stand out: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and even the European Union, which signed an agreement described as "illegal and irresponsible" with Turkey to return refugees to an unsafe, conflict-ridden context.
On the occasion of the report's presentation, the Nobel Prize-winning association that fights for the defence of human rights around the world calls on people everywhere to "resist cynical attempts to roll back long-established human rights" and to take action in support of human rights defenders, who are themselves targeted by powerful interests and dictatorial governments. This is the case of the well-known Honduran activist Berta Cáceres, whose murder remains unpunished, of journalists and members of the Oromo communities in Ethiopia, and of Giulio Regeni, the Italian researcher tortured and killed in Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's Egypt, whose death is overshadowed by the spectre of national security apparatus involvement.
According to Amnesty, in 2017 global solidarity and the mobilisation of public opinion "will be particularly important in defending those who challenge power and defend human rights, often regarded by governments as a threat to economic development, security or other priorities."
For this reason, everyone is called upon to apply pressure "so that those responsible for human rights violations are held to account for their actions." In dark times, Shetty recalls, "it has been individuals who have made the difference: from the civil rights movement in the US to the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, from women's rights groups to LGBT rights groups. As we begin 2017, the world feels unsafe and fearful in the face of such an uncertain future. But it is precisely in these moments that we need courageous voices, ordinary heroes who stand up against injustice and repression. No one can challenge the entire world, but each of us can change our own world."
