Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

In case you missed it, AI‘s annual report came out some days ago. The video above gives a short summary.

As usual the report provides a comprehensive overview of the state of human rights in 160 countries over the course of 2014. 

In its annual assessment of the world’s human rights, AI says that without urgent action and a fundamental shift in approach, there is strong reason to believe the next few years could see:

• more civilian populations forced to live under the quasi-state control of armed groups, subject to abuse, persecution and attacks
• deepening threats to freedom of expression and other rights, including violations caused by new draconian anti-terror laws and intrusive mass surveillance
• a worsening humanitarian and refugee crisis with even more people displaced by conflict as governments continue to block borders and the international community fails to provide assistance and protection

“If lessons are not learned – if governments continue to ignore the relationship between the current security crisis and the rights failures which have led us here – then what was a bad year for rights in 2014 could get even worse in the years to come,” said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

This entry was posted on February 27, 2015 at 12:16 and is filed under AI, Amnesty international, human rights, Human Rights Defenders.

Tags: AI, Amnesty International, annual report 2014, anti-terrorist laws, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, humanitarian, international protection, Salil Shetty