Amnesty: Israel’s ‘disregard for international law’ in Gaza inflamed by US veto on ceasefire resolution

LONDON (AP) — Amnesty International warns that the world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid what it calls “flagrant” rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

In its annual report, published today, the human rights organization charges that the most powerful governments, including the United States, Russia and China, have led a global disregard for international rules and values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with civilians in conflicts paying the highest price.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, says the level of violation of international order witnessed in the past year was “unprecedented.”

“Israel’s flagrant disregard for international law is compounded by the failures of its allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed meted out in Gaza,” she says. “Many of those allies were the very architects of that post-World War II system of law.”

The report accuses the US of failing to denounce alleged rights violations committed by Israel and its use of veto power to paralyze the UN Security Council on a ceasefire resolution in Gaza.

It also decries Russia’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine and points to China’s arming of military forces in Myanmar and the way Beijing has shielded itself from scrutiny over its treatment of its Uyghur minority.

“We have here three very large countries, superpowers in many ways, sitting on the Security Council that have emptied out the Security Council of its potentials, and that have emptied out international law of its ability to protect people,” she tells The Associated Press in London.

The Guardian reports that Amnesty’s review also points at Britain’s human rights record, with Amnesty International UK’s chief executive Sacha Deshmukh, accusing the UK of deliberately destabilizing the entire concept of universal human rights through its “appalling domestic policies and politicking.”

The report, which details Amnesty’s assessment of human rights in 155 countries, underlines an increasing backlash against women’s rights and gender equality in 2023.

It also cites the brutal suppression of women’s protests in Iran, the Taliban’s decrees “aimed at erasing women from public life” in Afghanistan, and legal restrictions on abortion in the US and Poland, among others.