Amnesty International warns of global human rights crisis

The global anti-rights campaign, which is now being turbocharged by the Trump administration, is gutting international human rights protections and endangering billions across the planet, Amnesty International warned today upon launching its annual report, The State of the World’s Human Rights.

World leaders throughout 2024, have been eating away at decades of painstaking work to build up and advance universal human rights for all and accelerate humanity’s plunge into a brutal new era characterised by intermingling authoritarian practices and corporate greed. 

“Year after year, we have warned of the dangers of human rights backsliding. But events of the past 12 months – not least Israel’s live streamed but unheeded genocide of Palestinians in Gaza – have laid bare just how hellish the world can be for so many when the most powerful states jettison international law and disregard multilateral institutions. At this historical juncture, when authoritarian laws and practices are multiplying the world over in the interests of very few, governments and civil society must work with urgency to lead humanity back to safer ground,” said Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed. 

The release of Amnesty International’s report annual comes two days after South Africa commemorated 31 years of freedom, however, the majority in this country are not free and are shackled by the lack of access to their basic rights and services. 

“Every year, Amnesty International condemns the persistently high levels of gender-based violence and widespread crime in South Africa, urging authorities to take decisive action. Yet, year after year, little to no meaningful progress is made, and perpetrators continue to operate with impunity. This continues despite clear evidence that the criminal justice system is failing victims,” Shenilla Mohamed said. 

“We are exhausted by the cycle of raising these issues and seeing no real change. We highlight them year after year in our The State of the World’s Human Rights report, yet the government remains unresponsive in practically tackling these issues. The report once again exposes the South African government’s ongoing failure to deliver essential services to its people. Many communities still endure chronic water shortages, children are forced to use unsafe, illegal plain pit toilets in schools, and while the government proclaims a strong commitment to addressing climate change, tangible progress remains painfully slow.”

Global human rights backsliding

Amnesty International’s The State of the World’s Human Rights assesses the situation in 150 countries and this edition documents vicious, widespread clampdowns on dissent, catastrophic escalations of armed conflict, inadequate efforts to address climate collapse, and a growing backlash globally against the rights of migrants, refugees, women, girls and LGBTI people. Each of these faces further deterioration in a turbulent 2025 unless a global about-turn is achieved. 

For years now, we’ve witnessed a creeping spread of authoritarian practices among states the world over, fostered by aspiring and elected leaders willingly acting as engines of destruction. As they drag us into a new age of turmoil and cruelty, all who believe in freedom and equality must steel ourselves to counter increasingly extreme attacks on international law and universal human rights.”

The proliferation of authoritarian laws, policies and practices targeting freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly that Amnesty International documented in 2024 was central to the global backlash against human rights. Governments across the world sought to evade accountability, entrench their power and instil fear by banning media outlets, by disbanding or suspending NGOs and political parties, by imprisoning critics on baseless charges of “terrorism” or “extremism”, and by criminalising human rights defenders, climate activists, Gaza solidarity protesters and other dissenters. 

Security forces in several countries used mass arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and often excessive – sometimes lethal – force to suppress civil disobedience.  For example, security forces in Mozambique unleashed the worst crackdown on protests in years following disputed elections, leaving at least 277 people dead. 

Armed conflicts highlight repeated failures

As conflicts multiplied or escalated, state forces and armed groups acted brazenly, committing war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law that devastated the lives of millions.

Amnesty International documented Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a landmark report and its system of apartheid and unlawful occupation in the West Bank turned increasingly violent. Meanwhile, Russia killed more Ukrainian civilians in 2024 than it did the year before, continuing to target civilian infrastructure and subjecting detainees to torture and enforced disappearance. 

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces inflicted widespread sexual violence on women and girls, in what amounts to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, while the number of people internally displaced by Sudan’s two-year civil war rose to 11 million – more than anywhere else on earth. Yet that conflict elicited near-total global indifference – aside from cynical actors exploiting opportunities to breach the Darfur arms embargo. 

“Amnesty International has long warned of double standards undermining the rules-based order.  The impact of that to-date unfettered backsliding plumbed new depths in 2024, from Gaza to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Having paved the way for this mess by failing to universally uphold the rule of law, the international community must now shoulder the responsibility,” said Shenilla Mohamed. 

“The cost of these failures is gargantuan, namely the loss of vital protections built to safeguard humanity after the horrors of the Holocaust and World War Two. Despite its many imperfections, obliteration of the multilateral system is no answer. It must be strengthened and reimagined.”

Governments are abandoning future generations

The State of the World’s Human Rights presents stark evidence that the world is condemning future generations to an ever-harsher existence thanks to collective failures to tackle the climate crisis, reverse ever-deepening inequalities and restrain corporate power.

COP29 was a catastrophe, with a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists inhibiting progress on a fair phase-out, while the wealthiest countries bullied lower-income nations into accepting derisory climate financing agreements.

“2024 was the hottest year on record and the first to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The floods that devastated South Asia and Europe, the droughts that ravaged Southern Africa, the fires that razed swathes of Amazon rainforest and the hurricanes that wreaked havoc in the USA laid bare the immense human cost of global heating, even at its current levels. With a 3°C rise projected this century, richer nations know they’re not immune from increasingly extreme unnatural disasters – as the recent California wildfires drove home – but will they act?” said Shenilla Mohamed. 

In 2024, extreme poverty and inequality within and between states continued to deepen due to widespread inflation, poor corporate regulation, pervasive tax abuse and rising national debts. Yet many governments and political movements used racist and xenophobic rhetoric to scapegoat migrants and refugees for crime and economic stagnation. Meanwhile, the number and wealth of billionaires grew, even as the World Bank warned of “a lost decade” in global poverty reduction. 

The future looks far bleaker for many women, girls and LGBTI people, amid intensifying attacks on gender equality and identity. 

Big Tech

Governments are further harming present and future generations by failing to adequately regulate new technologies, abusing surveillance tools and entrenching discrimination and inequalities through increased use of artificial intelligence. 

Vital efforts to uphold international justice

Despite mounting opposition from powerful states, international justice and multilateral bodies have continued to push for accountability at the highest levels, with governments from the Global South leading several significant initiatives. 

The ICC issued arrest warrants against senior state officials and leaders of armed groups in Israel, Gaza, Libya, Myanmar and Russia. The UN took an important step towards negotiating a much-needed treaty on crimes against humanity. 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued three sets of provisional measure orders in the case South Africa brought against Israel under the Genocide Convention and issued an advisory opinion declaring that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful. The UN General Assembly also passed a resolution calling on Israel to end its occupation, and in January 2025 eight states from the Global South formed the Hague Group, a collective committed to preventing arms transfers to Israel and holding it accountable for violations of international law.

“We applaud the efforts of countries like South Africa and international justice bodies to push back against powerful states hellbent on undermining international law. In so challenging impunity, those nations and bodies set examples for the whole world to follow. The mounting attacks we’ve witnessed on the ICC in recent months suggest this is emerging as a major battlefield of 2025. All governments must do everything in their power to support international justice, hold perpetrators accountable, and protect the ICC and its staff from sanctions,” said Shenilla Mohamed.

The release of Amnesty International’s 2024 report coincides with Trump’s 100 days into his second term. During this time the US president has shown utter contempt for universal human rights. 

“His government has swiftly and deliberately targeted vital US and international institutions and initiatives that were designed to make ours a safer and fairer world. His all-out assault on the very concepts of multilateralism, asylum, racial and gender justice, global health and life-saving climate action is exacerbating the significant damage those principles and institutions have already sustained and is further emboldening other anti-rights leaders and movements to join his onslaught. But let us be clear: this sickness runs much deeper than the actions of President Trump,” Shenilla Mohamed said. 

“Despite daunting challenges, the destruction of human rights is far from inevitable. History abounds with examples of brave people overcoming authoritarian practices. In 2024 the people of several nations rejected anti-rights leaders at the ballot box while millions around the world raised their voices against injustice. So it’s clear: no matter who stands in our way, we must – and we will – continue to resist the reckless regimes of power and profit that seek to strip people of their human rights. Our vast, unshakeable movement will be forever united in our common belief in the inherent dignity and human rights of everyone on this planet.”

For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Alicia Jooste, Senior Programme Officer, Amnesty International South Africa on +27 (0)64 890 9224 or alicia.jooste@amnesty.org.za