In constant support of Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, the West is distinguished by the “softness” of its reactions to other major human rights violations, observed Amnesty International Tuesday, denouncing this ” Two weights, two measures “. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine “exposed the hypocrisy of Western states, which reacted forcefully to Russian aggression, but turned a blind eye to grave violations committed elsewhere, even in were complicit,” laments the NGO in its annual report.
And Amnesty to pin the “deafening silence” surrounding Saudi Arabia – where according to the NGO justice has notably pronounced the death penalty during “grossly unfair” trials and peaceful demonstrators have been “sentenced to many long prison sentences” – or Egypt, where thousands of opponents of the regime “remain arbitrarily detained and/or unjustly prosecuted”.
“The response to what happened to the Russian aggression against the Ukrainian people is a tremendous response. It is a response that should be a model for other present and future crises, “responded Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty, interviewed by AFP. But “neglecting other crises diminishes the value of what has been done in Ukraine,” she continued, her organization lamenting that the West has “tolerated” “similar acts of aggression in other countries.” ‘other countries’, ‘solely because its interests are at stake’.
In Israel, governments over the past year have thus “rolled out measures forcing ever more Palestinians to leave their homes, developing illegal settlements and legalizing settlements” in the occupied West Bank, but many Western governments “have chosen not to do so.” to take from those who denounced apartheid”, regrets Amnesty. In Ethiopia, the NGO criticizes “the pitiful responses” to “one of the deadliest conflicts in recent history”, which has claimed 500,000 lives, according to the United States.
Always contradictory signals, the doors of the European Union, “wide open to welcome Ukrainian refugees”, remained “closed” for people fleeing Afghanistan or Syria, Amnesty regretted. The United States, which took in tens of thousands of Ukrainians, between September 2021 and May 2022 “deported more than 25,000 Haitians, often after detaining them and subjecting many to torture”, was indignant Agnès Callamard.
The West’s “selective and self-serving” approach to human rights has also emboldened other countries criticized for human rights abuses, including China, where the “systematic repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet continued,” and the “Hong Kong government continued to suppress the democracy struggle movement,” according to the NGO.
The war in Ukraine has finally diverted “not only resources, but also attention from the climate crisis”, as global warming disasters seem “out of control” and world leaders have failed to agree on the measures to limit the rise in temperatures below the 1.5°C threshold. The year 2022 has generally seen a “deterioration of civil and political rights”, these suffering “repression” in certain Western countries such as France, where Agnès Callamard points to “an illegal exercise of force” by police and gendarmes against Some protestors.
Consult our file: War in Ukraine