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Amnesty International Report 2013: world increasingly dangerous for refugees and migrants
an article by Amnesty International (abridged)
Video: Amnesty International Report
Global inaction on human rights is making the world
an increasingly dangerous place for refugees and
migrants, Amnesty International said today as it
launched its annual assessment of the world’s human
rights.
Demonstration to mark the 5° anniversary of the killing of Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink, Istanbul, January 2012. © REUTERS/Osman Orsal
click on photo to enlarge
The organization said that the rights of millions
of people who have escaped conflict and
persecution, or migrated to seek work and a better
life for themselves and their families, have been
abused. Governments around the world are accused
of showing more interest in protecting their
national borders than the rights of their citizens
or the rights of those seeking refugee or
opportunities within those borders.
“The failure to address conflict situations
effectively is creating a global underclass. The
rights of those fleeing conflict are unprotected.
Too many governments are abusing human rights in
the name of immigration control – going well
beyond legitimate border control measures,” said
Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty
International.
“These measures not only affect people fleeing
conflict. Millions of migrants are being driven
into abusive situations, including forced labour
and sexual abuse, because of anti-immigration
policies which means they can be exploited with
impunity. Much of this is fuelled by populist
rhetoric that targets refugees and migrants for
governments’ domestic difficulties,” said Shetty.
In 2012 the global community witnessed a range of
human rights emergencies that forced large numbers
of people to seek safety, within states or across
borders. From North Korea to Mali, Sudan and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo people fled their
homes in the hope of finding safe haven.
Another year has been lost in Syria, where little
has changed apart from the ever-increasing numbers
of lives lost or ruined. Tens of thousands have
died and millions have been displaced by the
conflict. The world stood by while Syrian military
and security forces continued to carry out
indiscriminate and targeted attacks on civilians,
and to subject to enforced disappearance,
arbitrarily detain, torture and extrajudicially
execute those deemed to oppose the government,
while armed groups continue to hold hostages and
to carry out summary killings and torture on a
smaller scale.
The excuse that human rights are ‘internal
affairs’ has been used to block international
action to address rights emergencies such as
Syria. The UN Security Council – entrusted with
global security and leadership – continue to fail
to ensure concerted and unified political action.
“Respect for state sovereignty cannot be used as
an excuse for inaction. The UN Security Council
must consistently stand up to abuses that destroy
lives and force people to flee their homes. That
means rejecting worn-out and morally bereft
doctrines that mass murder, torture and starvation
are no one else’s business,” said Shetty.
(Click here for a French version of this article or here for a Spanish version)
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Each year we get overviews of the state of human rights in the world from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
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