From China to UK, global human rights under attack in 2015, says Amnesty

At least 30 countries illegally forced refugees to return to places where they would be in danger last year, Amnesty said on Wednesday as it warned that many governments were brazenly breaking international law. War crimes or other violations of the “laws of war” were committed by governments or armed groups in at least 19 countries, Amnesty said in its annual review of human rights around the world. Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty said that short-term national self-interest and draconian security crackdowns had led to an “unprecedented assault on human rights” in 2015.

Your rights are in jeopardy: they are being treated with utter contempt by many governments around the world.

Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty

One of the most egregious examples of countries turning their backs on asylum seekers took place when human traffickers left thousands of people from Myanmar and Bangladesh adrift on the open seas without food and water. Hundreds are thought to have died from thirst and hunger as countries in the region played “ping-pong in the sea” with them, Amnesty said. In Europe, the report strongly criticised Hungary for sealing its borders to keep out thousands of desperate refugees and obstructing collective regional attempts to help them. Shetty also said too many governments were using the threat of violence from armed groups as an excuse to “take short cuts on human rights”.

The human rights of civilians cannot be sacrificed under some vague notions of combating terrorism.

Salil Shetty

Amnesty International