The West’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 exposed its “double standard” in relation to human rights abuses in the world, criticized this Tuesday (27, Monday night in Brasilia) the NGO Amnesty International (AI), which warned of the deterioration of the situation in Latin America.
AI’s annual report on human rights in the world denounces the silence of Western countries in 2022 on the situation in Saudi Arabia, repression in Egypt and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
“The West’s formidable response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine highlighted a double standard, exposing by comparison how insignificant its reactions were to so many other violations of the UN Charter,” said Amnesty Secretary-General Agnes Callamard in presenting the group’s world report, in Paris.
Many countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and opened their borders to Ukrainian refugees, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched an investigation into war crimes that led it to call for the capture of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This response contrasts with the reaction to other situations, such as Saudi Arabia, where people are jailed for their opinion and 81 men were sentenced to death in a single day.
The United States, which welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainians, expelled “more than 25,000 Haitians” between September 2021 and May 2022, after subjecting “many of them to torture and other ill-treatment”, denounced Agnes.
“Individual interests” of members of global and regional institutions have also prevented an adequate response to conflicts where thousands of people lose their lives, as in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Yemen, according to the organization.
– ‘Deterioration’ in Latin America –
As this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was born from the ruins of the Second World War, AI is denouncing a setback in all regions of the world.
“In Latin America, we have seen a deterioration in the protection of rights, especially the right to demonstrate, to have different opinions,” said Agnes, citing the case of Peru. Since the fall of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo in late 2022, 54 people have died in protests, according to officials. Justice is investigating her successor, Dina Boluarte, to determine her responsibility for these deaths.
“In several cases, the authorities’ response to the protests resulted in human rights violations, including the illegitimate use of force, especially against the indigenous and peasant population,” the organization pointed out. “Indigenous peoples are the first to be affected by this repression, whether in Mexico, Peru or Colombia,” said the Secretary General.
The 2022 report also warns of violence against women – mainly in Mexico, which has recorded hundreds of feminicides “facilitated by impunity” – and of the discrimination suffered by Venezuelan refugees in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
In a year marked by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn the right to abortion at the national level, Amnesty warns that the procedure “continued to be penalized in five countries” in the rest of the American continent, such as El Salvador.
The war in Ukraine has also diverted attention “from the climate crisis”, at a time when catastrophes related to global warming seem “out of control”, adds the organization.
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