Although it strongly supported Ukraine after Russia’s military invaded its territory in February 2022, the West is rather notable for its “deafening silence” in the face of gross human rights abuses in other conflicts, it says in its annual report released to the public today the non-governmental organization Amnesty International, denouncing its “double standards”.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year shone a harsh light on the “hypocrisy of Western states, which reacted strongly to the Russian aggression but turned a blind eye to the very serious violations committed elsewhere”, showing tolerance for their own interests or even being complicit , Amnesty punctuates the text.

The NGO stands especially in the West’s “deafening silence” and “inaction” on Saudi Arabia, a country where, according to Amnesty, the judiciary imposed the death penalty in “grossly unfair” trials and peaceful protesters were “sentenced to long prison terms”, as well as for Egypt, where thousands of regime opponents “continue to be arbitrarily detained and/or unjustly prosecuted.”

“The reaction to the Russian attack on the Ukrainian people has been remarkable. This reaction should be a model for other current and future crises,” said Anies Kalamar, the general secretary of Amnesty International, speaking to Agence France-Presse.

But “ignoring other crises undermines the value” of what was done in the case of Ukraine, she continued, as her organization asserted that the West “tolerated” other, “similar attacks in other countries” simply because “its interests were at stake.”

In Israel, governments last year imposed even more “restrictive measures” on “more and more Palestinians”, continued to issue permits to build “illegal settlements” and “legalize” others in the occupied West Bank, but governments in the West “preferred to turn against those who denounce apartheid”, points out Amnesty.

In Ethiopia, the NGO criticizes the “pathetic reactions” in the face of “one of the deadliest conflicts in recent history”, which is estimated to have killed half a million people, according to US estimates.

Closed doors

Another spectacular contrast, according to Amnesty, can be seen in the doors of the European Union, which “opened wide” for the reception and “hospitality of Ukrainian refugees”, but remained “closed” for the people who left to save themselves from Afghanistan, the Syria…

The US, while welcoming tens of thousands of Ukrainians, from September 2021 to May 2022 “deported more than 25,000 Haitians, often after imprisoning them and subjecting many of them to torture,” Mrs. Kalamar pointed out with indignation.

The “selective” approach, based on “interests”, of fundamental rights by the West characterizes their actions with regard to other countries criticized for human rights violations, especially China, which similarly observes “double standards” while not suffered particular consequences for “the continued systematic repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet,” or the “continued repression by the Hong Kong authorities against the movement fighting for democracy,” according to the NGO.

The war in Ukraine has also diverted “not only resources, but also attention from the climate crisis”, while the disasters associated with global warming now seem “out of control”, and world leaders have not agreed on measures that they will limit the increase in temperature below the limit of 1.5° Celsius.

Globally, 2022 saw a “deterioration” of the situation “in terms of civil and political rights”, amid “repressive” policies in Western countries, including France, where Ms Calamar points to “unlawful violence” by police and gendarmerie against protesters .

As for women’s rights, the situation also took a spectacular “turn for the worse”. Especially in Iran, where women were killed “for dancing, for singing, for not wearing headscarves”; in Afghanistan, where they were “turned into objects” after the Taliban took power; even in the US, where the right to abortion is now increasingly contested strongly, the NGO notes.