The human rights organization Amnesty International complained of a “double standard in the West” in its annual report for 2022/23. “We have seen how Russian violations of international law have been condemned around the world, crimes investigated and borders opened for refugees,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. “This response must be a blueprint for how we will confront all serious human rights violations.”
The “resolute and welcome approach” towards Russia stands in “sharp contrast to grossly inadequate measures in the face of current conflicts,” says the report. Ethiopia and Myanmar are mentioned as examples. Equally unequal is the treatment of refugees from Ukraine and people who would flee from Syria, Afghanistan or Libya. By opening their borders to Ukrainians, the EU member states have shown that the European Union is “fully capable of taking in large numbers of people seeking protection and giving them access to healthcare, education and housing.”
The “West’s double standards” have given countries like China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia “the necessary cover” to avoid criticism of their human rights record. For example, although massive human rights violations were committed against the Uyghurs in China in 2022, Beijing escaped international condemnation by the General Assembly, the Security Council and the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Around the world, demonstrations would be restricted and criticism suppressed. In Iran, for example, the authorities reacted with extreme brutality to unprecedented mass protests against decades of oppression. The Middle East conflict also receives a great deal of attention in the annual report: For Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, 2022 was “one of the deadliest years since the United Nations began systematically recording the number of victims in 2006″. Accordingly, more than 150 people were killed by Israeli forces. Palestinians are still being expelled by Israeli authorities. Instead of demanding an end to these human rights abuses, many Western governments have turned to attacking those who denounce these injustices,” say the report’s authors.
Amnesty International calls for an “urgent reform” of the UN Security Council and the strengthening of international institutions that are supposed to “protect our rights”. According to the organization, “first of all, the UN human rights mechanisms would have to be fully financed”. Only in this way could the necessary investigations be carried out that would enable accountability and ensure justice.