Amnesty International Report | The post-war world order “on the brink of rupture”

(London) The world order built after 1945 is “on the verge of breakdown”, warns the secretary general of Amnesty International, an NGO which publishes its annual report on human rights on Wednesday, criticizing Israel and the United States in particular. on one side, Russia and China on the other.

From the Middle East to Ukraine, including Burma, Sudan and Ethiopia, where conflicts accompanied by massive human rights violations are taking place, “everything we have witnessed over the last 12 months shows that the international system is on the verge of breakdown,” said Agnès Callamard to AFP.

“Over the past six months in particular, the United States has shielded Israeli authorities from scrutiny of the multiple violations committed in Gaza,” she says.

“By using their veto against an essential ceasefire, they have emptied the (United Nations) Security Council of its meaning,” accuses the secretary general of the London-based NGO.

Especially since at the same time, “powerful actors” such as Russia and China “are displaying their desire to jeopardize the entirety of the rules of 1948”, a pivotal year in the construction of the current international system, she warns. in this report.

It documents “gross violations by Russian forces during their large-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the use of torture and other mistreatment of prisoners of war.”

By “protecting the Burmese army” by turning a blind eye to attacks against the population in the midst of a civil war, China has also acted against international law, points out the NGO.

The war in Gaza began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack carried out against Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza, which resulted in the death of 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP report established from official Israeli data.

In response, Israel has promised to destroy Hamas, and is carrying out a military offensive which has so far left 34,183 dead, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. Famine now threatens the north of the territory, and Israel is still preparing an offensive on Rafah, causing concern in many foreign capitals and humanitarian organizations.

The Amnesty report denounces “the monstrous crimes perpetrated by Hamas on October 7”, after which “Israel launched a campaign of reprisals which turned into a punitive expedition against an entire population”.

“Reform the Security Council”

After 200 days of this conflict with global repercussions, M^me Callamard questions the role of international institutions, “which should act but let us down”, and the current validity of post-1945 ideals.

It is therefore necessary to “revitalize and renew international institutions”, in particular by “urgently reforming the UN Security Council and its right of veto, so that it cannot be used in situations of massive rights violations of man,” she pleaded with AFP.

For the NGO, in another register, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is also a source of concern, as this technology could accelerate the spread of false information or perpetuate racist bias.

Amnesty accuses large technology companies of ignoring or minimizing these threats, “even in contexts of armed conflict”.

“Technology “outlaws” and their malicious tools” left free to use risk worsening human rights violations in 2024, a year of major elections around the world, from the United States to the United States. India through the United Kingdom and the European Union, she stressed.

“The proliferation and unregulated deployment of technologies such as generative AI, facial recognition and spyware” represent a “huge threat”, facing which governments must “take robust legislative and regulatory action”.