LONDON - Henry Ridgwell - Voice of America
Wednesday is United Nations’ Human Rights Day. Many
observers describe 2014 as a horrific year for human rights violations. War is
the major source of abuses around the world - and in the past 12 months, major
conflicts have intensified.
The Syrian civil war is approaching its fourth year.
Hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions forced from their homes. In
the past 12 months the conflict has splintered and spread to neighboring Iraq,
with government forces, moderate opposition fighters, Islamist militants and
Kurdish fighters all battling for territory.
The international community must take some
responsibility, said Steve Crawshaw, senior advisor at Amnesty International.
“[For] the failures to address the Syria conflict better
and earlier and to really speak out loudly and to put the kind of pressures
that were needed for human rights to be better observed,” he said.
The barrel bomb, barrels packed with explosives and
dropped from a helicopter - has been used widely by Syrian government forces,
killing thousands of civilians. Syria’s key ally Russia should speak out
against their use, said Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth.
“They [barrel bombs] allow ISIS to say that at least it
is standing up to the Russian-backed government in Damascus that is trying to
commit murder among civilians in opposition-held areas,” he said.
Moscow meanwhile is fueling conflict in the east of
Ukraine by providing military support to separatists. Close to 4,500 people
have been killed, and there are numerous cases of abduction and torture. On a
recent visit to Moscow, Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch said the situation could
deteriorate.
“I think it is political insecurity that lies behind all
of this. And I fear that this is only going to intensify as Russia encounters
some real economic problems as a consequence of Putin's adventurism in
Ukraine,” he said.
Russia’s increasing isolation has led to the worst
crackdown on dissent within Russia since Soviet times, according to Roth.
“What all this adds up to is that the architecture is in
place for a still more intense crackdown should Putin need it,” he said.
China is accused of rolling back recent progress on human
rights with its ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
The spread of Islamist militant groups in Africa is
driving human rights violations on a vast scale. Killings and suicide attacks
by Boko Haram in Nigeria are intensifying, while Nigerian government forces are
accused of beheadings and torture.
In Egypt, campaigners say the hopes of the Arab Spring
protestors are all but extinguished. But Amnesty International is keen to
highlight two key achievements of the past 12 months.
“In Sri Lanka there is now an international inquiry into
the terrible killings of 2009 when tens of thousands of civilians died. Also in
U.N. terms, there’s the Arms Trade Treaty, which we have been campaigning for,
for 20 years,” Crawshaw said.
Overall though, Human Rights Day 2014 will likely be seen
as a reminder of the vast scale of abuses in many parts of the world.
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