International
Amnesty International warns that the world is on the verge of the collapse of international law
Amnesty International (AI) warned that the world is on the verge of the collapse of international law, due to repeated human rights abuses and frequent attacks on armed conflicts by States and armed groups, such as in the current crisis in the Middle East.
The non-governmental organization, based in London, released its report ‘The state of human rights in the world’ of 2023. It lists a series of abuses in different countries, such as the repression of dissent, the illegitimate use of force against protesters or arbitrary arrests.
This NGO also warned that the collapse of the rule of law is likely to accelerate with the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) that, together with the mastery of large technologies, runs the risk of a greater violation of people’s rights if the regulation is still lagging behind.
At a press conference in the British capital to present the document, the secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnés Callamard, recalled that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948 designed for “all of us, without exception,” but that now the world is attending an “erosion of the rule of law due to massive violations in the name of terrorism and security.”
Many powerful countries, he said, are abandoning “humanity and universality” enshrined in that declaration, signed under the slogan of “never again” due to the atrocities of World War II.
“The Amnesty International report presents a bleak panorama of alarming repression of human rights and prolific violations of international norms, all in the midst of an ever-deepening global inequality, superpowers competing for supremacy and a growing climate crisis,” he said.
The Amnesty International report makes special mention of armed conflicts. It indicates that the violation of international humanitarian law, also known as “laws of war”, has had devastating consequences for the civilian population.
In many armed conflicts, government forces have launched ground and air attacks against populated areas. Using weapons with a wide range of action, while racism occupies a central place in some of these conflicts.
Specifically, the crisis in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is linked to an extreme form of racial discrimination, Amnesty points out.
For the organization, the Israeli system of separation from the Palestinian people is based on the fact that Israel oppresses and dominates the Palestinian population through territorial fragmentation, segregation and control, the set-aside of land and property and the denial of economic and social rights.
In a conflict that shows no signs of diminishing, the evidence of war crimes continues to accumulate while the Israeli government mocks, in its opinion, international law in Gaza.
After the attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, Israeli authorities responded with relentless air strikes against populated civilian areas that often annihilated entire families. Almost 1.9 million Palestinians were forcibly displaced. They restricted access to humanitarian aid that was desperately needed despite the growing famine in Gaza, he adds.
“Israel’s flagrant contempt for international law is aggravated by the failure of its allies to stop the indescribable shedding of civilian blood inflicted in Gaza.”
Many of those allies were the architects of that legal system after World War II,” said the secretary general.
Racial discrimination has also manifested itself in the responses to these conflicts, according to the report.
Many governments have imposed illegitimate restrictions on solidarity protests with the Palestinian population, he added.
The governments of Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, Poland and Switzerland – the document indicates – preventively banned this type of protest in 2023. Alleging risks to public order or national security that, in some cases, were based on racist stereotypes.
Dissidence was repressed through the adoption of strong measures against freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. While arbitrary detentions and imprisonments of human rights defenders, members of the political opposition and activists were documented. And his sometimes subjected to torture and other mistreatment.
According to the text, many States neglected economic injustices and the climate crisis. Governments often treated refugees and migrants in an abusive and racist way.
Among other things, AI denounces deeply rooted discrimination against women, LGBTI people and indigenous peoples. It emphasizes that multinational companies were part of abuses.
Amnesty focuses its report on several global trends: the treatment of the civilian population in armed conflicts, the growing offensive against gender justice, the disproportionate impact of economic crises, climate change and environmental degradation, and the threats of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence.
In his opinion, these issues represent critical challenges for human rights around the world. They demand a concerted response from the States to face them and avoid new conflicts or that existing ones are aggravated.
International
140: this is the number of countries that recognize the Palestinian state
About 140 countries of the 193 countries that are part of the United Nations (UN) have recognized the Palestinian State and of them eight belong to the European Union (EU), although only Sweden and Cyprus did so after entering it.
Sweden was the last country in the European Union to recognize the Palestinian State, on October 30, 2014.
Three years earlier, on January 30, 2011, it had been done by Cyprus, a member of the European Union since 2004.
The recognition by Sweden in 2014 opened the debate between the EU member states and several legislative chambers approved resolutions to urge their governments to officially recognize Palestine as a state, including the British parliament, the Irish Senate, the Congress of Deputies in Spain or the French Assembly.
On December 17, 2014, the European Parliament (EP) joined the recognition of Palestine, by supporting a joint resolution of the majority political groups that won 498 votes in favor, 111 against and 88 abstentions.
The other six EU countries that have recognized the Palestinian State are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania.
They all did it days after, on November 15, 1988, the Palestinian National Council proclaimed in Algiers the establishment of the state of Palestine, while accepting UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, which meant recognizing Israel’s right to exist.
Six of those countries then belonged to the Soviet bloc, including the Czech Republic and Slovakia, then united in a single country, Czechoslovakia.
In the year following its proclamation, the Palestinian State was recognized by ninety countries and in 1995 the number already exceeded one hundred.
Cuba, then also a Soviet ally, and Nicaragua were the first Latin American countries to recognize Palestine as a state, in 1988. Currently, 24 Latin American countries recognize it, all except Mexico and Panama.
The last to do so was Colombia, on August 8, 2018.
The Bahamas, on May 8, was the last country to formally recognize Palestine as a State and its right to “self-determination.” Shortly before, Trinidad and Tobago (May 3), Jamaica (April 24) and Barbados (April 21) had done it.
Among those who do not recognize the Palestinian state, in addition to countries of the European Union such as Germany, France or Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia stand out.
International
Beijing sanctions 12 other U.S. military companies for selling weapons to Taiwan
China today sanctioned twelve other US military companies and several senior managers for selling weapons to Taiwan and in response to the sanctions imposed by Washington on Chinese entities on account of the war in Ukraine, something that, according to Beijing, “violated the legitimate rights of Chinese institutions and individuals.”
Among the twelve sanctioned companies, which will freeze their assets in China, are several of the Lockheed Martin group, in addition to Javelin Joint Venture, Raytheon Missile Systems and General Dynamics Ordnance, among others, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in a statement.
The Chinese government has reiterated on numerous occasions its opposition to the sale of weapons to Taiwan by Washington, which in turn also sanctioned on May 1 hundreds of companies, including several Chinese companies, which it pointed out for helping Russia in its war against Ukraine.
International
The Princess of Wales still can’t resume her official agenda
The Princess of Wales, Catherine, who is currently undergoing preventive oncological treatment, will not yet be able to resume her official agenda, as indicated by Kensington Palace, her official residence.
The news was released during the presentation of a report on the foundation that it supports and with which it is about giving priority to the mental health of children under five years of age.
For his part, a spokesman for Kensington Palace told the BBC that “the princess is not expected to return to work until her medical team authorizes it.”
Last March, Prince William’s wife revealed through a video that she was undergoing preventive cancer treatment, after doctors detected her with cancer cells after an abdominal operation last January.
Since then, there has been no official statement about the state or treatment of Prince William’s wife.
Like Catherine, King Charles III undergoes oncological treatment.
140: this is the number of countries that recognize the Palestinian state
Beijing sanctions 12 other U.S. military companies for selling weapons to Taiwan
The Princess of Wales still can’t resume her official agenda
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